Gun control activist/grifter David Hogg has come under a lot of criticism from the left in recent months for… well, a lot of things. One of the most vocal complaints about Hogg, though, has been that his political action committee Leaders We Deserve, which was founded to supposedly challenge and replace incumbent Democrats with younger, more progressive politicians, has been taking in a lot of money while spending very little to actually support candidates.
Now, however, Hogg’s PAC is pledging to spend $1 million to back Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson’s primary challenge to congressman Steve Cohen, a 76-year-old who’s represented Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District since 2007.
Pearson, you might remember, was one of several Democratic lawmakers who were expelled by the House after launching gun control protests on the floor of the House chamber shortly after the shootings at Covenant School in Nashville. Pearson was swiftly re-elected, though, by his constituents in a liberal district centered in Memphis, Tennessee. Now he’s hoping to take his anti-gun extremism to Capitol Hill, and Hogg is promising to spend big in next year’s Democratic primary to help him.
Now, Pearson is running for Congress with the support of Justice Democrats, a group that helps elect progressive House members like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D–Mich. He also has the backing of Leaders We Deserve, a group founded by former Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg, which seeks to elect a new generation of leadership in the party. Leaders We Deserve also announced a $1 million investment in Pearson’s bid.
… In a statement endorsing Pearson, Hogg said that he was “a tested fighter who will deliver opportunity, affordability, safety, and justice to his constituents.”
“From his successful work stopping the Byhalia Connection oil pipeline, which threatened the drinking water of more than one million people in the Memphis area, to his fearless stand in the state capitol for stronger gun safety laws after the 2023 Covenant school shooting, Justin J. Pearson has repeatedly shown the kind of backbone needed to confront powerful special interests, from big oil to the gun lobby,” Hogg said.
If I were Pearson I’d ask for that check ASAP, because Leaders We Deserve has a history of promising financial support and then failing to deliver. In June, Hogg and Leaders We Deserve endorsed Virginia Del. Irene Shin in a crowded primary field vying to replace the late Rep. Gerry Connolly in Congress. According to the Washington Post, Hogg “privately pledged to spend $400,000 on her behalf.” Instead, just weeks later, this happened.
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.
…
Since its inception in June 2023, the group has raised more than $15 million and spent about $3.7 million on outside campaign communications or direct contributions to political action committees, campaigns, or parties, representing about 25 percent of its total expenditures, according to the analysis.
The group spent roughly $10 million on a range of other operating expenses, including $2.4 million on digital ads, many of which appear to be aimed at raising funds for the group through Hogg’s growing profile. The rest was spent on expanding email and texting lists and various other overhead expenses, including payroll and taxes.
It’s not surprising that Hogg would back Pearson’s congressional campaign. The Memphis Democrat is 46 years younger than Cohen, and though Cohen has been a vocal supporter of gun control, including co-sponsoring bills to ban so-called assault weapons, Pearson’s stunt on the floor of the state House definitely raised his profile among younger progressive voters.
Whether or not Hogg actually follows through on his million-dollar pledge, though, remains to be seen. Supposedly Hogg promised Shin that $400,000 in spending before he had looked at any polling in the Virginia primary, where James Walkinshaw, who had the endorsement of the late congressman, held a commanding lead. After realizing Shin had no path to victory, according to the Post, Leaders We Deserve backed away from Hogg’s pledge, and Shin ultimately ended up with just 14% of the vote.
As Salon notes, “Cohen has faced primary challenges in the past, though none have recently garnered more than 15% support.” The longtime Democrat told the website that he’s not concerned with Pearson’s primary challenge, arguing that he’s never even lost a single precinct in previous primaries.
If Hogg does follow through on his pledge to spend $1 million in support of Pearson’s primary bid, establishment Democrats are likely to spend even more helping Cohen defend his seat, which will work to Republicans’ favor in the general election. Every dollar the left spends on intra-party fights is a dollar that won’t be spent against Republican candidates, so Hogg’s backing Pearson’s primary challenge could end up being a gift to the GOP in the midterm cycle. Of course, given Leaders We Deserve’s past performance, that gift to conservative could be another one of Hogg’s grifts as well.
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