David Hogg on the NYC Mayoral Race

David Hogg, a gun violence prevention advocate and co-founder of March for Our Lives, spoke with WFUV News in an interview about his recent political work and the future of the Democratic Party. Hogg stepped down as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier this year after controversy over his push to support primary challenges against Democratic incumbents.

In a statement at the time, Hogg said, “Ultimately, I have decided not to run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters. I need to do this work with Leaders We Deserve, and it is going to remain my number one mission to build the strongest party possible.”

Since parting ways with the DNC, Hogg’s PAC, Leaders We Deserve, has become the single largest financial backer of Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign. Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman and Democratic Socialist, won a historic primary victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo, breaking records for the most total votes in a city primary. Despite the win, Mamdani has faced resistance from some Democratic Party leaders, such as former New York Governor David Paterson, echoing tensions that contributed to Hogg’s own break with the DNC and its leadership over a plan to primary incumbent Democratic lawmakers.

“Zohran did what elected officials should do, which is say what they really believe and figure out how to build a winning coalition from that,” Hogg said in the interview. “And sometimes that includes expanding the electorate. I feel incredibly proud to have supported his campaign.”

Hogg added that Mamdani’s success in spite of the large spending effort against him shows how “when you have a good message, you don’t need to advertise it nearly as much because people will advertise it for free.”

Reflecting on the mission of Leaders We Deserve going forward, Hogg said, “What we need to do as the Democratic Party, is to build a party not based off of the amount of harm that we don’t do by saying that we’re not Republicans, but based off of the amount of good that we do and how good we are at governing.”

He argued that the party must embrace candidates across its spectrum, saying, “You can’t just say that we’re a big tent party and say that we only want one side of that tent. That’s not how a tent works. That’s how a tent collapses.”

A portion of this interview aired on the What’s What podcast from WFUV News on July 14, 2025.