David Hogg is running for DNC vice chair: First on ABC

David Hogg, gun control activist, March for our Lives co-founder and Parkland school shooting survivor, is running for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, ABC News has learned.

"I think this role is a great way of, for one, bringing newer voices into the Democratic Party," Hogg told ABC News. "I just want to be one of several of those voices to help represent young people and also, more than anything, make sure that we're standing up to the consulting class that increasingly the Democratic Party is representing instead of the working class."

The DNC offers four opportunities to serve in a vice chair capacity -- three general vice chairperson roles and one vice chairperson for civic engagement and voter participation.At 24, Hogg is considerably younger than the declared candidates for DNC chair, notable after Vice President Kamala Harris' pitched herself as a "new generation of leadership" during her presidential bid.

The candidate field for DNC chair, currently composed of five men -- four white and one Latino -- could expand in the new year before a vote on Feb. 1. But for now, the declared candidates are: Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party; former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley; New York state Sen. James Skoufis; and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler. And former Department of Homeland Security staffer Nate Snyder announced his bid last week.

The current head of the DNC, Jamie Harrison, is stepping down at the end of his term.

Hogg told ABC News he has spoken with O'Malley, Martin, and Wickler and declined to endorse or boost any of the candidates. Hogg said he was "a bit shocked" that no women candidates have yet officially declared. In his conversation with the chair candidates, who he would have to work closely with if elected, Hogg said he stressed that the committee needs as strong a messenger as its message.

"As we saw in this election, unfortunately, it's not just enough to do the work of fighting for working class people. That is very important... but we need to simultaneously be able to tell people what we are actually doing for them, and make sure that we're not overpromising and underdelivering," Hogg said.

If elected, Hogg would likely be both the youngest vice chair of the DNC, but also one of the youngest to serve in Democratic National Committee leadership -- but he doesn't want his candidacy to be seen as a war among generations.

"This is not old versus young. The reason why I've decided to run is because a lot of older people encouraged me very strongly to do so because they think that we need diversity of age in our party, as well," Hogg told ABC News.

Hogg rose to prominence as a gun control activist in 2018 after surviving the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 students dead and another 17 seriously injured.

A month following the tragic shooting, Hogg was one of the organizers of the "March for our Lives" on March 24, 2018, on the National Mall in Washington, with more than 800 similar events across the world pushing for gun control legislation.

In the days leading up to the initial March for Our Lives, the student-run nonprofit March for Our Lives was formed to combat gun violence.

During his gap year before attending Harvard University, Hogg campaigned for many Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections, and last year launched the progressive PAC Leaders We Deserve to elect younger lawmakers. Hogg was also a vocal supporter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's vice presidential bid.

Hogg believes that Democrats did a poor job of communicating their message in the last election in a way that truly resonated with voters, among several other missteps. He also wants to see the party take more direct accountability -- and says he finds the shrugged-off complacency from others in his party that they "did their best" is "unacceptable."

"We need to realize that we are increasingly the party of sycophants," he said. "We are just surrounding ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear instead of what instead of what we need to hear, we're increasingly surrounding ourselves with paid political consultants that no that are letting what donors say to them guide their talking points."

Hogg suggested that an outside group briefs the committee on the pitfalls of their election strategy. But he also wants to be solution-oriented, and part of his pitch is his ability to uniquely communicate in spaces where Democrats have struggled to transform momentum into actual votes: online.

More than half of young men under 30 voted for President-elect Donald Trump in November, a major increase from 2020. Hogg, himself a member of Gen Z, wants to meet these men where they are and cites Harris not doing Joe Rogan's podcast prior to the election as a major missed opportunity.

While these young men shifted away from Harris in unanticipated margins, Hogg says Democrats' losses this election are bigger than just one voting bloc -- and hopes that extreme candor and commitments to those groups will not only rebuild but expand the party.

"What really bothers me is, we say to people all the time, 'Who's to blame for this election?' It's young people, it's X minority group... but really, who's to blame for this? It's us. It's us. Ultimately, we failed to communicate, and we failed to have a broader strategy within the party to make sure that we were telling the president what he needed to hear, rather than what he wanted to hear, which was that he needed to drop out."