Early career

Vogel developed an interest in politics while in school, where he had been active in student government.^[7] He volunteered on Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and later worked on Cheryl Kagan's 2014 State Senate campaign.^[9] Vogel was a college intern for then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.^[1][7]

Vogel took a year off of college at George Washington University to work on the national advance team of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.^[7] He later got involved in the March for Our Lives movement and in protests against the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh,^[10] and worked as an advance lead for Ralph Northam's 2017 gubernatorial campaign and as advance director for Cory Booker's 2020 presidential campaign.^[5] After Booker suspended his campaign, he worked the presidential campaigns of Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden.^[11][12]

Vogel served on the Maryland Youth Advisory Council from 2015 to 2016. He also worked as a policy fellow at Interfaith Works in Montgomery County and founded Learn It Together, a nonprofit organization to help students of essential workers as they transitioned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[9]

Maryland House of Delegates

In September 2021, Vogel announced he would run for the Maryland House of Delegates, challenging incumbent Democratic state delegate James W. Gilchrist, who later announced his retirement; Kagan, who had political differences with Gilchrest, recruited Vogel to run for the seat.^[5][13] During the primary, Vogel strategized with Connecticut state senator Will Haskell and hosted campaign events featuring Cory Booker.^[7] He won the Democratic primary with 27.9% of the vote and defeated Republican challengers Helene Meister and Donald Patti in the general election with 27.5% of the vote.^[14][15]

Vogel was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 11, 2023. He represents District 17, which includes the cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville.^[1] He is the youngest member of the Maryland General Assembly and, alongside Jeffrie Long Jr., is the first Generation Z member of the Maryland General Assembly.^[6][7] He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.^[16]

2024 congressional campaign

In May 2023, Vogel announced he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district to succeed David Trone, who is running for the United States Senate in 2024 to succeed retiring Democratic senator Ben Cardin.^[17][18] If elected, he would be the first Latino, first Gen Z, and first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from Maryland.^[19]

Vogel is seen as a frontrunner, alongside April McClain-Delaney, in the Democratic primary,^[20] during which he received endorsements from various national groups and local officials,^[12] and ran on a platform including support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and LGBT rights, expanding health care access, addressing climate change, and fighting right wing extremism.^[21][22]

Education

Vogel supports making public colleges tuition-free, codifying President Joe Biden's cancellation of up to $20,000 in student loan debt into law,^[18] and increasing state education funding.^[23] During the 2023 legislative session, he introduced a bill to forgive up to $30,000 in student debt for mental health professionals employed at Maryland public schools.^[24] During the 2024 legislative session, Vogel supported a bill to create a statewide health education framework.^[12]

Environment

During the 2023 legislative session, Vogel introduced legislation to provide funding for climate startups.^[25]

Foreign policy

Gun policy

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Vogel advocated for gun control.^[21] During his House of Delegates campaign, he said he supports legislation to hold gunmakers liable for school shootings; he also said he supports banning ghost guns, increasing funding for violence prevention programs, and requiring gun owners to have liability insurance.^[47]

Health care

Vogel supports Medicare for All but opposes making people give up their private insurance plans and prohibiting health care companies from covering procedures covered by Medicare.^[18]

Vogel supports increasing funding for drug intervention and treatment programs.^[25] During the 2023 legislative session, he introduced the Josh Siems Act, which would require emergency rooms to include fentanyl testing in toxicology screens. The bill was named for Baltimore native Josh Siems, who died from a fentanyl overdose on his 31st birthday in 2022.^[48] The bill unanimously passed the Maryland General Assembly^[49][50] and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore.^[51]

During the 2024 legislative session, Vogel introduced legislation to give state employees four hours of leave for cancer screenings^[12] and another that would allow students to possess and administer Narcan.^[52]

Immigration

During his 2024 congressional campaign, Vogel expressed support for efforts to support DREAMers and DACA recipients.^[3][53] He supports the American Dream and Promise Act, which would codify provisions of the DACA program into law.^[3]

Social issues

During the 2023 legislative session, Vogel introduced a bill to establish a commission on hate crime response and prevention following an uptick in hateful acts in Montgomery County, which was signed into law by Governor Moore.^[24][54] He also introduced the Event-Goer Rights and Accountable Sales (ERAS) Act following the 2022 Ticketmaster controversy, which requires ticket issuers to enforce a ticket refund policy and ban restrictions on ticket resales and transfers.^[24]

During his 2024 congressional campaign, Vogel supported the Equality Act,^[41] the Protecting the Right to Organize Act,^[23] and the Women's Health Protection Act.^[55]

During the 2024 legislative session, Vogel introduced a bill that would require police to notify property owners to remove hateful graffiti from their properties.^[12] He also spoke against proposed bills to ban transgender students from competing on girls' sports teams in schools and another that would ban sexually explicit materials from school libraries, saying that the introduction of both would be "detrimental" to the trans community,^[56] and supported a bill to prohibit school boards from banning books in school libraries.^[41] In March 2024, Vogel voted against a bill that would legalize online gambling in Maryland.^[57]

Taxes

During the 2023 legislative session, Vogel introduced a bill to provide tax credits to Maryland-based news media outlets with fewer than 50 employees for advertising costs.^[24]