The Dem Establishment Kicked Me Out. Now They're Losing
David Hogg, the former DNC vice chair, writes for Zeteo that the victories of Abdul El-Sayed and other progressives show Democrats didn't lose young voters – they just needed candidates to vote for.
A year ago, I was removed from my position as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for daring to suggest that we needed to challenge geriatric, corrupt, and asleep-at-the-wheel Democrats in safe blue seats. That we needed a culture of competition, not complacency. That the status quo was failing. That with democracy on the line, we shouldn’t be letting Democratic members of Congress die in office.
The establishment kicked me out for those “radical” views, and the establishment is losing.
The party insisted that a ‘D’ next to a candidate was good enough. I argued that when you share the same corporate donors as those with the ‘R’ next to their name, when you vote the same as them, and when you answer to special interests, not the people you’re sworn to represent, ‘D’ becomes a meaningless demarcation. To win back the young voters we lost in 2024, I believed we needed to root out corruption in our party and elect a new segment of Democratic leaders they could actually believe in.
A year later, and Democratic voters have been clear: no more status quo, no more special interests, no more strongly-worded letters.
In Michigan’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, Abdul El-Sayed beat back over $60 million in outside spending ($32 million coming from AIPAC), Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and an endorsement from the sitting Democratic governor. His historic victory proves, once again, that progressives aren’t just winning in New York City – they can dominate in swing states that Donald Trump won. As Senator Bernie Sanders said, “[El-Sayed] pulled off the biggest upset that I have ever heard of in my life.”
In the year since I left the DNC, the organization I co-founded to elect young progressives to state legislatures and Congress, Leaders We Deserve, has been on a hot streak. In Michigan, our first incumbent challenger of the cycle beat a corrupt millionaire candidate in Detroit backed by MAGA and AIPAC. Donavan McKinney, a Democratic socialist who has led the fight against utility companies in the statehouse, is now the presumptive nominee in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
We also took on the Democratic establishment in California’s 22nd Congressional District, where our candidate, Randy Villegas, beat the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) handpicked candidate. The establishment’s choice was the only Democrat to vote against California’s challenge of racist Republican gerrymandering, siding with Donald Trump and Greg Abbott. Their candidate shared more than 50 corporate and special interest donors with the Republican incumbent. Our guy? A working-class candidate fighting for affordability who refuses to take money from the same corporations jacking up prices.
In state legislative races this cycle, our record is 18-1, as we’ve fought to build a deep bench of power in key states like Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Our candidates have challenged the sports betting lobby, AIPAC, AI, and other dark money spenders, and they’ve won.
And of course, we couldn’t be prouder to have been the biggest outside supporter to a Zohran Mamdani-affiliated super PAC during his primary. As we saw in Mamdani’s race, and in races with progressive candidates across the country, young voters are turning out in record numbers, proving that we didn’t lose Gen Z; they just needed candidates to vote for.
Now compare that energy and momentum to the Democratic establishment. The DNC is over $2 million in debt. The RNC has about eight times as much cash on hand as the DNC and is outraising the Democratic National Committee – $21.2 million to $11.4 million. Senator Schumer’s recruits are losing. Favorability of the Democratic brand is at an all-time low.
Why is the establishment getting beat so badly? Especially when Trump and his coalition are collapsing?
Voters see clearly that many of our politicians are serving their largest corporate donors instead of the working class. Younger voters cannot fathom voting for a status quo that has never served them. Moderate voters are sick of lectures about what politicians can’t do, instead of delivering results.
So let’s put the electability debate to bed. Progressives aren’t just electable; they’re a dominant force. It turns out that a focused affordability message, moral clarity, and a commitment to not being bought motivates voters across the political spectrum. Americans are deeply upset that their government continues to send their tax dollars abroad to kill and maim children. They don’t want data centers in their backyards; they want healthcare. And they want their elected officials to fight like hell, not fold like a wet rag.
The many are beating the money. We’re proving that stronger candidates don’t need tens of millions of dollars in TV ads to get them over the finish line. Progressives like El-Sayed have already defeated the same corporate and special interests that are lining up behind his Republican opponent. He beat them on Tuesday, and he’ll do it again on Nov. 3.
A year ago, cable news pundit panels, elected officials, campaign strategists, and the entire establishment told me I was crazy for daring to challenge our party to do better. Today, I say: I wasn’t wrong; I was just early.
David Hogg is the president and co-founder of Leaders We Deserve, a grassroots organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and state legislatures. Hogg is also a former DNC vice chair, March For Our Lives founder, and gun safety activist. Check out the Leaders We Deserve Substack here.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.
Check out more from Zeteo, including Mehdi’s interview with Hogg from earlier this year:
Perhaps we need a Candidate Hogg.
Great article. This is spot on.