Parkland shooting survivor launches PAC to help elect young people across the country
David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, started a new political action committee aiming to encourage young people to run for public office.
On Wednesday, Hogg announced that he founded the Leaders We Deserve PAC with Kevin Lata, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Orlando), who became the first Gen Z congressman in November 2022. Hogg was also a co-founder of March for Our Lives, a movement in which students called for stronger gun control laws.
Hogg, in a Thursday email seeking donations, described the Leaders We Deserve PAC as an effort to elect young leaders across the country as well as “defeat the far-right’s agenda and advance a progressive vision for the future.”
The organization, according to the email, will focus on recruiting candidates in different states, providing support for campaigns, building volunteer networks and running paid media campaigns.
In the email, Hogg pointed to how younger generations have been treated in politics — and what they’ve accomplished. Young voters, he added, pushed for stricter gun laws after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Seventeen 17 students and faculty members were killed in the attack.
“Bada-- young people have a habit of being underestimated — and I have a habit of scaring the s--- out of Republicans by proving that, while we might be young, we are powerful,” Hogg said.
