Jason,
I recently took a trip to Illinois, and I can't stop thinking about the courageous leaders and inspiring young people I met there — and why we do this work.
I had the chance to spend time with Demi Palecek and Robert Peters, two leaders who are showing what it looks like to lead with integrity. They roll up their sleeves and tackle the issues their communities are facing head-on.
When I was on the ground with Demi, what stood out to me wasn't just the number of young people that showed up (though that alone was incredible), it was the campaign model she's building there. Too often, campaigns call on young people to make calls or knock doors for them in a way that feels purely transactional.
Demi is doing something completely different.
She's creating opportunities for people to plug in and directly support their communities. This isn't just about work that's beneficial to her campaign — Demi is mobilizing volunteers to build mutual aid networks, feed neighbors who are afraid to go to the grocery store because they're being targeted by ICE, and organize around needs that truly strengthen their community long before any election.
She's willing to fight right alongside the people she represents. That's exactly the kind of leadership we need in Congress.
That kind of leadership builds trust. It builds relationships, and those relationships create movements of young people who see politics not as a seasonal performance, but as an investment in their future.
The next day, I stood alongside Robert Peters and coalition partners at a press conference about the RIFL Act, legislation that he's helping lead in the Illinois state Senate. This bill would make waves — taxing the gun industry and requiring it to shoulder the financial burden from the harm it's profited off of by funding victim services, funerals, and providing long term support that families need in the aftermath of gun violence. He's creating concrete change that directly serves his community.
Seeing leaders like Demi and Robert in action and so many young people energized to be a part of this work reaffirmed why what we do matters so much.
Winning elections is important, but so is building our movements, creating trust, and showing that real, lasting change starts with people stepping up to help their neighbors. That's how we challenge power and build a better party, and country.
Thank you,
David Hogg
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