It can be difficult, if not impossible, to make generalizations about Gen Z—the most diverse generation our country has ever encountered. As Devin Gordon writes in Fast Company’s Summer 2024 issue’s cover story, “Projecting a set of traits onto an entire generation is akin to practicing astrology—it’s both total nonsense and, for some cosmic and ineffable reason, kind of accurate.”
David Hogg, 24, not only represents Gen Z but has become an interpreter for his rising generation. Hogg survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and later helped mobilize millions in the fight against gun violence. A year ago, he cofounded Leaders We Deserve, a political action committee dedicated to getting young progressives elected to office. This work increasingly involves convincing young people to pursue a career in the public sector.
But since Fast Company’s recent profile of Hogg and his work, much has already changed. President Joseph Biden has stepped down, and Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are now on the Democratic ticket for the 2024 Presidential Election. With this change has come an influx of excitement from Gen Z voters. And since then, Hogg has helped fundraise more than $500,000 for the Harris-Walz campaign. So we reconnected with Hogg to hear what he has to say about what Gen Z wants out of their careers and their government.
“Something to believe in”
Whether it is the careers they want to pursue or the candidates they want to support, Hogg says young people are “looking for something to believe in.”
“Our generation has been let down so many times because of the failures of our political system: whether that’s school shootings, climate change, [or] police brutality,” he says. “We want to believe that the system can work for normal people, for young people, for everybody.”
One of the hurdles preventing young people from running for political office themselves is finances, says Hogg. For instance, in Texas, the state’s part-time representatives make $7,200 per year and receive a $221 per diem for the 140 days that the legislature is in session every two years. The 400 members of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives make just $100 a year—and they haven’t gotten a raise since 1889.
Hogg argues that pay rates like these make it impossible for most young people to choose a career in the public sector. “Our best and brightest people don’t always have to go into investment banking, or consulting, or just be lawyers. They can also run for public office,” he says. “We need to pay people more,” he argues, so that we don’t “lose them to consulting.”
Does he think that the system is intentionally constructed so that only older, wealthier candidates can afford to take on these governmental positions? Or is this just an unintended consequence of a thriving free market economy?
“It’s not a coincidence,” says Hogg. “It comes back to the history of our nation. For a long time, it was just white landowning men” who were able to hold office. “Our society, thankfully, has changed, but the pay scale for these people has not.”
What Gen Z voters want
When it comes to the issues that Gen Z voters care about the most, Hogg says that housing tops the list, along with such issues as gun reform and abortion rights. And he says that simply preaching about voting as a patriotic obligation does not inspire Gen Z to take a trip to the polls.
“We talk about, ‘Oh my god, these young people just need to vote more.’ And I agree, young people absolutely do need to vote more,” he says. “But we need to realize that one of the best ways to get young people to vote more is to give young people something to vote for—and not just say, It’s your civic duty.”
For instance, the reason that young people voted in record numbers after the shooting in Parkland, he suggests, is because “they were fired up and ready to vote as a rebellious act.”
When it comes to selecting candidates to support via Leaders We Deserve, Hogg says that the first things he and cofounder Kevin Lata look for are a person’s motivation for running, and whether they have “the juice”—the capacity to inspire.
“There are a lot of young people running for office out there, but frankly, like all politicians, a lot of them are boring. It’s fine for some people to be boring in our government. Not everybody can be super exciting,” says Hogg. But young voters are likeliest to support exciting, hopeful candidates and causes.
Yet, like other generations, Gen Z also wants “people in office who have a lot of experience and know how to get things done.” Which is all the more reason for people to start early: “When you look back at our most successful presidents that we’ve ever had, almost all of them started when they were younger—when they were under 30.”
He lists presidents Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Joseph Biden as examples. “Biden was 29 when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate,” Hogg says.