New strategy for DNC: Younger candidates launching bids to run party after 2024's devastating loss

Following the Democrats' 2024 sweeping election loss, younger candidates are stepping up to run for Democratic National Convention leadership positions as the midterm elections approach. 

Some of the candidates that have thrown their hat in the ring include gun control activist David Hogg, 24, who is running for DNC vice chairman and New York State Sen. James Skoufis, 37, who is running for chairman.

“Moving forward, we must have a renewed focus on our youth outreach in all states and territories to rebuild our coalition after the massive shift to the right among young voters this election,” Hogg said in a statement, according to NBC News.

Skoufis said last month that the Democratic Party needs to have a "fresh" perspective for the future and getting new voters. “I think I bring a healthy mix of a track record of knowing how to win over the past 12 years but also being that younger, fresher perspective," he said. 

The Democratic National Committee is scheduled to hold its election for chairperson on Feb. 1, 2025. Current DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison, who has had the position since 2021, announced he wouldn't run again after his party this past election cycle lost the White House and Senate.

“The DNC is committed to running a transparent, equitable, and impartial election for the next generation of leadership to guide the party forward,” he said.  

Others running for DNC chairman include former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, DNC vice chair Ken Martin, Ambassador to Japan and former mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, according to The Hill. New Age author and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson announced Thursday she’s running to lead the Democratic National Committee, according to CNN.

"This year, the party faces a more critical problem than we have ever faced before," Williamson wrote on her Substack. "The MAGA phenomenon now challenges the very way that politics are done in America, and the traditional tool kit of party organizing will not be enough to meet the moment."

Podcasts and endorsements

During the 2024 election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump made efforts to get younger voters through influencers and podcasts. 

During the campaign, Trump went on "The Joe Rogan Experience," comedian Theo Von's podcast and popular podcaster and scientist Lex Fridman's podcast, each of which have male-dominated audiences. Rogan's podcast has 14.5 million listeners and is the most popular podcast in the world.

Harris went on a popular podcast called "Call Her Daddy," had celebrity endorsements of Beyonce and Oprah Winfrey and had singer Gracie Abrams sing at one of her campaign rallies. The Harris campaign paid Winfrey's production company more than $1 million to stage the endorsement event, and paid Beyoncé's production company $165,000 for her appearance.

However, with the Democrats' most recent loss, the party is looking to re-strategize with how to win over voters in the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election. 

"Actual masculinity"

Hogg, a who gained fame as a survivor of the Parkland school shooting in Florida, had come out prior to the election and said the Democratic Party had to do a better job about reaching the male demographic. According to The Trace, he co-founded Leaders We Deserve, a political action committee formed in 2023 that has raised nearly $8.5 million in the past year to elect Gen Z and millennial progressives to state and national office. 

"I hope I’m wrong but if we lose in November I think the main reason why will be the number of young men of all races that are no longer Democrats," Hogg wrote on X in a September post. "There’s been a taboo about talking about this because we understandably are hesitant to make men a main point of conversation (given we have been for thousands of years) but we have a real problem to deal with."

"Long-term, we have a lot of work to do to provide positive examples of what actual masculinity looks like that is not defined by putting down women or other people, but by lifting others up and being a true leader," his post concluded. 

The Democrats have two years to come up with a winning strategy for 2026 with the midterm elections and less than two months to elect leadership to execute their plan.