David Hogg's Leaders We Deserve endorses challenger to Rep. Stephen Lynch

Leaders We Deserve, the political group co-founded by former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, announced on Monday that it’s backing Democratic candidate Patrick Roath, who’s challenging incumbent Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) in Massachusetts’ 8th congressional district. “When my dad was sick with Parkinson’s, the Affordable Care Act took care of him and kept my family out of debt. I’m beyond proud to endorse Patrick Roath, a candidate who can finally kick Stephen Lynch out of office,” Hogg, the president of the organization, said in a statement first shared with The Hill. “The era of cowardly and do-nothing Democrats who side with Republicans over their constituents’ wellbeing is over,” Hogg added. Roath, a 38-year-old lawyer who served as an aide to former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), in a separate statement said he was “honored” to have the group’s endorsement and added that “voters in this district are ready for change.” Roath also recently received the endorsement of Patrick. Roath is among a growing number of younger Democratic candidates challenging long-time members as older incumbents have faced calls for generational change and frustration that some members aren’t meeting the moment for the party during President Trump’s second administration. The Democratic attorney has criticized a number of positions Lynch, 70, has taken while in Congress since 2001, including Lynch’s vote against the Affordable Care Act and his vote in favor of legislation called the Laken Riley Act that allows undocumented immigrants to be detained if charged with certain crimes. “We got to show people what we’re about, like what our affirmative optimistic vision is for the future,” Roath told The Hill in an interview ahead of the group’s announcement. “Most of what I talk about is how to bring down housing costs, how to get child care costs under control, which is very personal to me. How do we get corporate PAC money out, right?” Roath said. “What do we do about term limits? Is that appropriate, ‘cause it kind of feels like everybody’s been down there for decades at this point.” Lynch has defended his voting record, noting that he supported the House version of the Affordable Care Act and argued that the Senate version included an antitrust exemption for insurers and blocked states from being able to create public options. In an interview with WBUR last year, the 70-year-old congressman also defended his vote on the Laken Riley Act, noting that the legislation was working toward raising the issue of immigration within the country even if the bill was “imperfect.” “ At some point we have to try to change the narrative so that people understand that there’s a legitimate immigration process that requires us to know who’s coming into the country,” Lynch told WBUR. “Immigration could be the greatest strength for this country if we could get it right.” Massachusetts’ 8th congressional district went for former Vice President Harris by over 26 points in 2024, according to The Downballot, making whoever wins the Democratic primary the heavy favorite to win in November.