WASHINGTON — Left-wing activist David Hogg’s PAC has a losing track record of endorsements after pledging to spend up to $20 million on backing younger, more progresive Democratic candidates — but instead splurging millions of dollars on political consultants, digital ads and even personal fitness classes.
Leaders We Deserve PAC shelled out just $455,000 to three candidates in tough Democratic primary races — only one of whom claimed victory — compared to roughly $2.5 million spent on consultants, $1.1 million on its own digital ads, $965,000 amassing donor lists and nearly $5,000 on fitness class subscription service ClassPass, federal campaign finance filings show.
The PAC’s disbursements, first reported by Axios, came after it successfully backed Zohran Mamdani to the tune of $300,000 in June’s New York City Democratic mayoral primary.
But Leaders We Deserve also contributed $150,000 to US House candidate Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old influencer dubbed “Arizona’s own AOC,” who lost Democratic special election primary by 39 percentage points July 15.
Irene Shin, who took $5,000 from the PAC, was defeated by 45 percentage points in a special Democratic primary June 28 to fill the House seat of late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
Despite Hogg’s $20 million boast, his PAC’s total intake had only hit $15.3 million as of the end of June — despite launching in 2023.
As of August, the PAC’s cash on hand figures for this year had risen slightly from $925,904 to $1,616,892.
Hogg’s high operating expenditures have been mocked by his former Democratic Nattional Committee foes like New York state Sen. James Skoufis, who posted on X after Leaders We Deserve’s second quarter FEC filings in June: “At this rate, [Hogg] would only have to raise a little over $3 billion in order to get his promised $20 million to primary candidates.”
Kevin Lata, who co-founded Leaders We Deserve and serves as its executive director, told Axios: “Our projections show that every $1 we put into these investments will net $3-$5 by the end of the cycle.”
“This helps to make sure every donation goes farther than it otherwise would,” he added.
Asked about the fitness subscription, Lata noted that ClassPass was provided as “a wellness benefit to our employees, like many employers across the country.”
The Post also reached out to Lata for comment.
During his ill-fated stint as a DNC vice chair, Hogg had claimed he would target “asleep at the wheel, out-of-touch, and ineffective” incumbent Democrats in their primary races, prompting backlash from party bosses and leading to his ouster in June.
“Our job is to be neutral arbiters,” DNC chairman Ken Martin said at the time. “We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time.”
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