David Hogg says Democrats must convince voters the American dream is possible
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As Zohran Mamdani declared his victory in New York, former DNC vice chair David Hogg told Fox News Digital that Democrats heading into the midterm elections should focus on restoring voters’ faith in the American dream.
After losing hands down in the 2024 elections, Democrats have scored victories in the most watched races of this off-year election cycle — from the socialist shockwave in New York, to the success of Democratic-led redistricting in California and the gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia.
“There’s no other city like New York,” Hogg said Tuesday night. “No other state is like Virginia or New Jersey. The lesson here tonight is not that all of New York’s policies need to be replicated across the country. It’s that listening and telling voters what you’re actually going to do to lower prices works.”
The former DNC vice chair, who stoked division in the Democratic Party earlier this year when he pledged millions to support older, older Democratic incumbents in blue congressional districts, was among those celebrating Mamdani’s success in New York’s mayoral election Tuesday night.
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Former DNC Vice Chairman David Hogg, left, celebrated Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company; Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Having a clear message, asking them what you can do for them and genuinely wanting to serve them and making it happen, it works,” Hogg told Fox News Digital.
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The New York City mayoral race has exposed an ideological and generational divide within the Democratic Party.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple controversies, including several sexual harassment allegations that he denied, has been tipped to make his political comeback this year.
But that plan was disrupted when Mamdani shocked the political establishment and won the Democratic primary in June.
A self-described democratic socialist, Mamdani will be New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century. His campaign focused on affordability, pledging to provide fast and free buses, free child care, a rent freeze and city-run grocery stores in New York.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference in Queens, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)
“The truth is there is a silent civil war going on within the Democratic Party right now,” Cuomo told Fox News last week. “You have a far left. A radical left. Bernie Sanders, AOC – Mamdani is just the standard bearer for this movement – against traditional moderate Democrats.”
Hogg, who supported Mamdani’s campaign before the primaries, told Fox News Digital that Mamdani’s success signals less about socialism and more about how to run a successful campaign.
“I think the lesson you learn here is not about politics, it’s about tactics,” he said. “It’s about listening. It’s about clearly communicating what you’re going to do to actually address voters’ key concerns, and in New York, that might be someone who’s much more left-leaning, like Zohran, but in Virginia, maybe someone who’s much more moderate, like Abigail. I think that’s totally fine.”
As the midterm elections approach, Hogg said Democrats “need to show voters that we are the party of the working class by talking about policies that directly address the economy and make their lives easier.”
“The goal of this election is to make the American dream possible again,” Hogg said.
Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, accepts the endorsement at United Bodegas of America in the Bronx on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
Hogg was ousted as DNC vice chair earlier this year following a procedural challenge to his candidacy, which followed an announcement his outside political action committee, Leaders We Deserve, would invest $20 million in primary challenges against incumbent Democrats who he said were “asleep at the wheel.”
“While this vote is based on how the DNC conducted its leadership election, with which I had nothing to do, it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party that dominated this vote,” Hogg said in May.
Hundreds of supporters celebrated Mamdani’s victory at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Attorney General Letitia James, actress Cynthia Nixon, anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil and Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza.
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Mamdani will be the first millennial mayor of the country’s largest city. He made strategic use of social media throughout his campaign, including TikTok, to build a recognizable brand and motivate a portion of low-propensity voters.
Like President Donald Trump in 2024, Mamdani centered his mayoral campaign on affordability, pledging to create a New York City that voters could actually afford to live in.
