I'm with David Hogg's claim that the Democratic Party needs a leadership reset.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-democratic-party-needs-reset.html

From the start of Biden's term in office, I was not pleased with the direction the party was going and with the things its elected leaders, especially in Congress were doing. I'm a Democrat who earns the right to speak up. I knock on doors for candidates and I contribute. I'm not silent when I need to speak up. I send communication to both Senators, my representative, and my state legislators.

Off the reaction to the January 6th insurrection, we got an impeachment with a dead end conviction that we knew would be the outcome in the senate. But we also got a Congressional investigation that produced a mountain of evidence, more than enough for a guilty verdict to many different crimes, including leading an insurrection against the government of the United States. That should have been followed up by some bold steps requiring some risk to be taken, but necessary for justice to be served.

And the justice department of the United States of America, in the hands of the Democratic party and the administration of President Joe Biden, failed to take the bold, risky steps necessary, dragged their feet, and let the opportunity to prevent Trump from ever taking office again, and most likely spending prison time justifiably, pass without taking advantage of the use of the power that they had.

People want things to get done, quickly. They don't want to drag things along until the right person has the chance to approve some idea or plan. Democrats turned off a lot of potential constituents by the panic and confusion that happened when the party couldn't get a handle on who was running the show, in the weeks leading up to Harris' nomination. The fact that the big shots and major donors had to put their stamp of approval on everything was a huge turnoff that drove a lot of voters away.

I think Hogg is on the right track here. He wants to cut through all of that partisan political goo, and get right to the point of finding leaders who will get things done and ignore the old line, old school protocol. He wants to find and empower leaders who will take risks and who will be bold enough to get things done without worrying about setting themselves up for future political success. He's looking for people who will represent the people, not the money interests or the influence peddlers. So he doesn't want to play the games, and that's brought out the critics whose power is vested in old school thinking, and threatened by something more popular than they are.

I've heard his critics say he should focus on helping Democrats beat Republicans, not on primarying Democrats. But I think this route is the way to victory for Democrats. We need to win Congressional seats and our playing by the old rules isn't cutting it. The establishment has played itself out, and it is clearly not leading any resistance to Trump, that's being done by a whole different constituency. We are facing a constitutional crisis because Democrats weren't bold enough to take the political risks necessary to have Trump sent to prison where he belongs, instead of being re-elected to the White House, where he doesn't belong.

Let's give new leadership a shot at it. Thanks, David. Speak the truth to power.

[Karadeniz]

1. I agreed with david when i heard his strategy.

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. Replacing one Democrat with another Democrat does NOTHING to help us to become a MAJORITY PARTY.

Let's replace REPUBLICANS with DEMOCRATS instead. How's that for a good idea? Let's become the majority party! There's only one way to do that! And it's not by swapping Democrats with Democrats.

He's a hot mess.

[lees1975]

21. No, but some of those Democrats that need to be replaced are risks to lose their seats to the GOP. So why not replace

with a Democrat who has a better shot at winning.

[Oopsie Daisy]

36. Really? Which ones? Why would a Democrat in a "solid blue/safe-blue" district be at risk of losing to a Republican?

🤡😜🙄

[0rganism]

23. Depends on which Democrats you replace

There might just be Democrats other than the current incumbent who are more likely to win in a general election. And his points about the DOJ moving too slow to prevent the Catastrophe are worth considering. He's right about the desire for swift, effective, decisive action, and in this case, the consequences of failure to enforce the laws which could have protected our nation from the brutal pillage we now endure.

[DURHAM D]

2. Is this a Hollywood script? nt

[lees1975]

3. A Hollywood script?

[mopinko]

4. just to b clear- he is NOT using dnc money.

he has his own pac.

[DownriverDem]

8. Just to be clear

he should resign from his position with the DNC then.

[mopinko]

12. imperfect allies r not enemies

and we rly need the ppl he speaks for.

me, i think it's a shame we have so few contested primaries. esp in the house. that's not how this is supposed to work.

[lees1975]

22. Why? That's no requirement. There are plenty of party establishment people who have their fingers in more than one pie

The DNC is pretty much dead, and is having a little trouble

[MichMan]

35. I don't know if he is or isn't

He was elected to be Vice Chair of the DNC and announced this proposal soon afterwards. I don't recall him ever saying it would all be funded by the Leaders WE Deserve PAC instead of the DNC. Do you have a link?

[mopinko]

39. i've heard him say it several times.

there’s btc vid w him, laying it out.
they’re also focused on state houses.

[MichMan]

41. If these reports are accurate, I'm not planning on donating anything to it.

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20266861

[mopinko]

42. big deal.

i’d like to see where the money actually went. it looks like they didnt just hand money over to candidates. they built an org, and sent boots where they cd do good.

imperfect allies r not enemies. but in the dem party, it sure seems that way. and that’s y were in trouble.
fine, dont give him money. i dont think he cares.

[mopinko]

43. here's that vid

&si=PEwtDQxiNUZt46wX&fbclid=IwY2xjawJ86ftleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFGTVFvcFlKRG5qSXZnTXF3AR5gXX6jFJROPxtIEFyeS0LNSsWz9B_1xkBEFcN8lMIMJfnnbiVIZ8jPF5qXbA_aem_uZ4CbBdDmIOM16AGd9c44A

[lees1975]

47. Lots of Dems raising money but doing little to stop Trump.

There's apparently no organization from within the House or Senate for the midterms, which should have been done long before now. At least this group is doing something productive about the problem.

A six figure salary? What's really new?

[wryter2000]

6. Sure

Take a perfectly safe seat and primary it. What could go wrong?

[mopinko]

15. likely nothing.

a safe seat is just that. better question- what cd go right? we get the next aoc, that's what.

[Shipwack]

19. Let's see...

You feel that we can’t work to remove ineffective leaders from safe seats.

Not to put words in your mouth, but I would guess you are also against primarying ineffective leaders in competitive districts.

🤔

Well then. I guess we’re stuck with ineffective leaders.


The party leadership cares more about norms and comity than fighting for the American people. They shirk their responsibility to take a stand, muttering something about they have no power. They then turn around and send me a fundraising letter.

The party leadership kneecapped one of our most effective speakers (AOC) in favor of a man with throat cancer! The rationales given were that “ it was his turn”, “Senority”, “AOC makes me feel nervous when she calls out the Republicans in a mean way”. Well, that last one wasn’t stated, but is implied by their actions and anonymous quotes given to the press.

People like it when their leaders take action. That’s one of the secret strengths of the Republicans. Did you ever hear one tell their constituents, “Sorry, I can’t propose anti-abortion legislation because it can’t pass…” Hell no! Every day when they didn’t hold the majority they still proposed some crazy ass bill, and their constituents loved them for it.

Schumer et al are the wrong people to lead the party in a wartime fight.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'

[lees1975]

24. Nothing that hasn't already gone wrong.

We lost Roe, got a crazy ruling from a Supreme Court that gives the president unbridled immunity, lost campaign finance integrity to Citizens United, and failed to get Trump to trial for insurrection and for stealing classified documents because Democrats in perfectly safe seats wouldn't move their butts out of them to take a few political risks to get it done when we had the power to do it.

It's time to move a few butts out and see what happens.

[DownriverDem]

7. Nope

Nope. He needs to resign his position with the DNC and work with his own organization. He should not be paid to destroy the Dem Party.

[lees1975]

25. Seems like the party, with a 29% approval rating going down, is destroying itself.

Plenty of people can operate a political organization and run a PAC at the same time.

Better than crawling down to Mar-a-Lago, or to the White House to cover their ass.

[Wild blueberry]

9. Wasn't sure at first, but David Hogg's ideas make sense

I'm glad he's part of the DNC and think he'll help shift our party to winning power and then using that power for our country.
Any Dem who's not helping can make room for someone who will.
Courage!

[Greyhead]

10. I agree with David

David isn’t suggesting that we primary all of our members, just the ones that are in safe districts and are more or less blue dog dems.
I’m 79 and I think we need young blood to help run our country.
I know I don’t have the mental or physical strengths I used to have.
So let’s get some energetic young people to carry the torch.

[dflprincess]

11. I agree with him to a point

But the first thing the DNC needs to is stop letting some Republicans run without a challenger & to stop ignoring candidates in districts it claims are unwinnable..especially next year. Once we have a solid majority we can start weeding out the dead weight.

I'm afraid Hogg is about to find out how vindictive Ken Martin can be if someone crosses him. Though I'm hoping Ken will figure out he needs to start listening to other ideas.

[Oopsie Daisy]

13. Ugh. He's a hot mess. I knew this wouldn't end well.

I checked but I could not find out who wrote that whining screed. More shitting on Democrats... different day.

[rubbersole]

14. Well, David, send a strongly worded letter...

..playing by "the rules" is going to get us all a life of servitude to a handful of oligarchs. We don't have time to argue about any of this. Take the gloves off. Or mittens off in Bernie's case. Hitting the streets is our immediate job. And let's all hope that works.

[kiranon]

17. Agree with David and I am 83

Dems need representatives who will fight back and stop T form becoming a dictator. The rules are different now and aAOC and Bernie are on the right track as is Adam Shiff and others. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Use every procedural rule they can find and get out in the countryside and spread the message in firebrand style not Biden's style although I loved Biden and his kiindness but we need more now.

[et tu]

18. didn't he support m. frost?

and what a fire ball he is- we need more of this not less.
less gets us fascism faster. we need and want dems who
will fight for us- not send letter upon letter. we need action
while we still can. more progress please if we want to win.
i hope k.martin is smarter than he looks- j.carville sure isn't.

[poli-junkie]

20. Biden should have put in an interim

atty general while Garland was undergoing a slow confirmation. Interim atty general should have investigated the organizers of the insurrection from the get-go. This would have caused the perpetrators in congress to be put on the defensive and less likely to bend the knee @ mar a lago. The whole timidity on behalf of Biden & DOJ was pathetic.

Way past time to by-pass “tradition” and go for the jugular! Go David!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

26. His e-mails have gone to my junk file

How does one be effective in the minority? Does he care to answer that?

His stance might make sense if we had the majority and were not accomplishing anything but that's not the case.

[mike_c]

28. "How does one be effective in the minority?"

By doing the ground work and organizing that lays the foundations for leadership. Like Bernie and AOC are doing. Like Democratic representatives giving town hall meetings in Republican districts. Like Democrats traveling to El Salvador, or shining a light on CBP detention facilities. Some dems ARE fighting hard against the fascist oligarchy. We need those kind of dems in every Democratic seat in Congress. Every single one. I don't hear Bernie whining about not being able to do anything 'cause we're in the minority. It just means we've got to fight harder and take it to the fascists.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. What legislation has Bernie and AOC passed being in the minority?

To me that's doing your job, not showboating.

I admire Bernie and AOC but their first and foremost responsibility is at home. Someone like AOC isn't going to be elected in the more moderate district. That's a fact.

I've said it before. I hope I'm wrong, but Hogg reminds me of the Bernie or bust crowd

[lees1975]

31. If Bernie had been senate majority leader in 2021...

He would have broken the filibuster, and had ten of the most liberal, progressive judges qualified for the Supreme Court in Biden's hands, saying, "We will confirm them all" if Biden had just said, "go ahead."

We would not be where we are now.

AOC, along with Jasmine Crockett, were the leaders behind the House Democratic constituents virtual unanimous support against the Trump amendments to the continuing resolution that would have led to a government shutdown several months ago. Bernie was the biggest agitator against cloture in the senate. Weak willed Democrats came up with a ridiculous argument to defend voting for something Trump wanted. The rule on that, courageously, should be NO!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. Are you aware that judicial nominations are not subject to filibuster?

Harry Reid ended it for Supreme Court justices in 2005 or 2006. McConnell went further and ended for all judicial nominations after the GOP won the Senate in the 2006 election.

[lees1975]

37. Yes, but we would have needed to break the filibuster in order to amend the judiciary act to create the additional seats

on SCOTUS.

It was brought up, and it was Biden who said no, didn't want to look too political.

[MichMan]

38. If Sanders had abolished the filibuster back in 2021, there wouldn't have even been a cloture vote on the Trump budget.

[lees1975]

29. We had the majority and the White House between the 2020 and 2022 elections and on this front, accomplished zero.

Biden had some significant legislative achievements.

But with the power we had, there were Democrats who pushed for making sure that the groundwork was laid to keep Trump from running again. Even two members of the House GOP, Kinzinger and Cheney, sacrificed their political career to help conduct a damning congressional investigation that should have been immediately used as evidence in charging him with insurrection. But here is Trump, re-elected, back in the White House because when we had the majority it would not take the necessary steps to put an end to this. And that's why Hogg's call for some new Democratic members of Congress is the exact right thing to do.

Who to replace? Those who refused to break the senate filibuster in order to pack the court, which would have done several things, including expidite his document theft trial and insurrection trial, stopped the ridiculous ruling that a President is above the law, saved Roe, overturned Citizens United. Yes, to do that would have been risky, requiring real boldness. But isn't that exactly what we need now?

The Trump opposition, which is the resulting reaction to what Democrats could and would not do, is not being led by Democrats, for the most part. But look what its doing, compared to what Democrats, even now after all of this, are not doing.

[mike_c]

27. 100% agree

[Skittles]

32. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE

in ANY other job with results like the last election LEADERSHIP WOULD BE CHANGED IMMEDIATELY

[EthanBlue]

33. I agree in principle

We do need people that will move and lead.

This is where I have a disconnect with him. Who do we primary and what are the criteria on who they would be? What are the track records of the players he would like to highlight? How are we vetting them?

I’ll get right down to it. There is a need for change and strong leadership. At the end of the day it won’t be clean, but it could be good. I’m just cautious.

[mopinko]

40. the house is not SUPPOSED to b a lifetime thing.

i understand the intent of the founders doesnt count for shit any more, but there’s a reason they only have 2 yr terms.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

44. Who needs David Hogg when we have the Justice Democrats primarying good Democrats?

I got an email from the Justice Democrats announcing that they are primarying a regular democrat. This is from the email:

The day has come: Today, Justice Democrats is officially announcing our first 2026 primary challenger of the cycle: State Representative XXXXX for the YYYYY

XXXX just launched his grassroots campaign against a self-funded multimillionaire incumbent, and we need to show he’s got people power behind him in these crucial first 24 hours.

Will you become a Day 1 founding donor by pitching in any amount now? 100% of your donation will go directly to supporting XXXX’s campaign.

This is Justice Democrats’ first new primary candidate in a few years, and it’s a race that embodies our fight to transform the future of the Democratic Party

I have been following the Justice Democrats and its predecessor for a while including the "brand new congress group" and other groups created by Cenk, Kyle Kulinksi, Zack Exley, Saikat Chakrabarti, and their ilk. I am on the Justice Democrat email list and I have even listened once or twice to the Justice Democrat podcast which is amusingly called "Just Us" democrats. The Justice Democrats emails are fun to laugh at and I love the hatred this group shows to the Democratic Party, establishment Democrats and best of all corporate democrats (I am a corporate lawyer).

The Justice Democrat group want to take over the Democratic party and remake into their image. I also do not want the Democratic Party to be taken over by the Justice Democrat group.


I am not the only person who has issues with the concept that the Justice Democrats want to take over the Democratic Party

Link to tweet

Again, the above posts are consistent with the hatred of the Democratic Party that I see on the almost daily emails that I get from the Justice Democrats. I admit that I enjoy the Just Us Democrat whines about AIPAC and Jews being mean.

The Just Us Democrats seem to be drawing a distinction between their group and David Hogg's pac with respect to how much money will go to the candidate. Hogg's pac gave only 2.3% of the amount raised last cycle to candidates.

A fight between the Justice Democrat group and Hogg's pac will be fun to watch

[Oopsie Daisy]

45. I loathe them and their treachery.

[lees1975]

46. They have little influence or traction. A splinter group.

Hogg is at the DNC, and has a PAC, and the rhetoric and action is quite different. Not a legitimate comparison here.