Leaders We Deserve, the PAC founded by Parkland survivor and former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, is endorsing a primary challenger to longtime Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).
Why it matters: Lynch has been a perennial primary target for progressives, and they see their best opportunity yet this year to try to take him down.
- Lynch is reviled on the left for his past opposition to gay rights and abortion, and for voting against the Affordable Care Act.
- But the 70-year-old Massachusetts Democrat, first elected to Congress in 2001, is also getting caught up in a sweep of generational change, with younger Democrats pushing to oust their party's oldest incumbents.
Driving the news: Hogg said in a statement that he is endorsing Patrick Roath, a 38-year-old attorney, describing him as "a candidate who can finally kick Stephen Lynch out of office."
- "We deserve leaders like Patrick – not congressmen like Stephen, who refuses to fight for affordable housing, guaranteed child care, and universal health care," Hogg said.
- Roath has waged a tough campaign against Lynch, out-raising him by a more than 2-to-1 margin between July and September of last year.
- Lynch's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
