Hogg Mild: Anti-Gunner Accused of Reneging On $400K Pledge to Candidate

Gun control activist/failed pillow maker/former DNC co-chair/attention hog David Hogg is burning bridges these faster than Sherman marching through Georgia. First Hogg alienated establishment Democrats by insisting his Leaders We Deserve PAC would challenge incumbent Dems he believes are too old or squishy to serve in office, which led at least indirectly to the DNC holding new elections for two seats on the committee, including Hogg’s. 

Hogg stepped down rather than face a do-over election, but now at least one of the candidates he’s ostensibly backing says the anti-gunner isn’t putting his money where his mouth is. 

Democrats working to elect Irene Shin to Congress last month were elated when Leaders We Deserve, the political organization founded by Gen Z activist David Hogg, endorsed the 37-year-old Virginia state delegate and privately pledged to spend $400,000 on her behalf.

That elation was short-lived.

Days after the headline-making endorsement, the Hogg-founded group backed away from its financial commitment, according to a half-dozen Democrats close to Shin and Leaders We Deserve, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private plans. “Shocking” was how one of the Democrats close to Shin described the situation, with others saying it dealt a clear blow to their campaign. The group did not explain its reasoning, the people said.

The previously unreported reversal highlights how Leaders We Deserve has yet to deliver in many ways on its ambitious promise to shake up the Democratic Party establishment with an infusion of money and attention lavished on a new generation of liberal candidates.

As the Washington Post reminds readers, Hogg pledged to spend $20 million in the midterms to oust “out-of-touch, ineffective” Democrat incumbents. But the paper reports that so far there’s been “little progress” from the group. It’s endorsed three candidates since Hogg’s public pledge, but none of them have been against Democrat incumbents. Leaders We Deserve endorsed socialist Zohran Mamdani (naturally), but he’s the only candidate they’ve backed to win their primary after an endorsement… and I don’t think anybody is crediting Hogg for Mamdani’s first-place finish in the Democratic primary in NYC. 

More importantly, the Post reports that Leaders We Deserve is spending money… but the vast majority of it isn’t going to candidates. 

A Washington Post review of Leaders We Deserve’s finances and campaign activity reveals that the two-year-old group has, in its early stages, spent a significant amount of time and money on fundraising and promotion of the organization. The group devoted just 31 percent of its spending in the 2024 cycle to supporting candidates, according to Federal Election Commission data. 

That is comparable to similarly structured groups, according to the review. Democratic critics said they worry that Leaders We Deserve’s spending record points to a deeper problem with such groups, because they tap a limited fundraising pool and risk damaging the party’s candidates.

It’s also spending a decent chunk of change on payroll, with Hogg getting more than $10,000 a month from the PAC. 

And while the Post notes the data for the 2024 campaign cycle, Leaders We Deserve has been spending almost 100 percent of donations on its operations, while donating a paltry sums to candidates. 

This is the thing about David Hogg’s pledge to spend $20 million to unseat incumbent Dems is that he’d need $20 million. Last month, his PAC spent nearly all its revenues on operating expense (direct mail, list buying, Hogg’s salary, etc) and only gave $5k to one candidate. https://t.co/PVctZPtZ1j

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 18, 2025

In the case of Shin, the Post reports that even though Hogg had pledged to spend $400,000 in support of her bid to replace former Rep. Gerry Connolly, the group decided to yeet back its funding after polling showed their endorsed candidate losing handily to establishment favorite and Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw, who was previously Connolly’s chief of staff. Walkingshaw ended up walking away with the nomination last month, getting almost 60 percent of the vote in a crowded field of ten candidates. Shin, meanwhile, eked out 14 percent of the vote. 

Hogg insists that he’s just getting started, and his PAC will become much more active in the months ahead. We’ll see if that’s true, but there are a few cold hard facts already on display: at the moment, the leaders Hogg thinks Democrats deserve aren’t the ones that Democrats are picking,  and most of money coming in to Hogg’s PAC isn’t being spent on those “leaders” he’s supposed to be promoting. 

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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