David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and cofounder of the gun control organization March For Our Lives, called out the Democratic Party after Monday’s school shooting in Wisconsin, saying the party has “failed to connect” with voters.
“Today’s shooting is yet another reminder that our politicians don’t give a shit about us or our lives,” Hogg said in a statement Monday. “And it underscores the importance of our elections and how dangerous it is that the Democratic Party massively failed to connect with people this year.”
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A 15-year-old student killed a teacher and another student and injured six others Monday at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. On Monday, Hogg wrote on X that the shooting is “another reminder” of “how much work we have to do to end gun violence.”
“We can’t give up hope because without it we will never end gun violence,” Hogg wrote. “Change will only be possible if we believe it is. Few other countries in the world have to deal with this. We don’t need to either. But we need politicians who take action and do something. We need to realize while there is disagreement between Democrats and Republicans there is a lot we are not doing that we do agree on. Basic things like funding more mental health programs for the 2/3 of gun deaths that are suicides, safe storage laws and other common sense measures that can reduce gun deaths.”
He added that “we need to start actually doing something” after shootings and not just send thoughts and prayers.
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Just hours before the shooting, Hogg, 24, announced he plans to run for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. He told HuffPost that he doesn’t want the Democratic Party to lose young male voters again as it did in 2024. Hogg said Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision not to go on Joe Rogan’s right-leaning podcast is part of a “broader problem.”
“I don’t think her going on Joe Rogan necessarily would have decided the election, by any means,” he said. “But I think it speaks to a broader problem within the party where we’re choosing to live in a comfortable delusion a lot of the time of where the country actually is, rather than an uncomfortable reality of where it is.”