Parkland survivor David Hogg to John McCain: 'Why do you take so much money from the NRA?'

David Hogg, the Parkland shooting survivor who has become a high-profile gun-reform advocate after the Feb. 14 mass murder of 17 people, on Friday turned his attention to Sen. John McCain, the top recipient of National Rifle Association money in Congress.

"Why do you take so much money from the NRA?" Hogg, 17, asked in a reply to a McCain Twitter message about the Phoenix-area "Rio Reimagined" redevelopment project that was launched Friday.

MORE: Read how people responded to the tweet

McCain's office could not immediately be reached for comment, and McCain had not responded to Hogg's question on Twitter.

McCain, a six-term Arizona Republican who was the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, is the No. 1 recipient of NRA money among current members of Congress, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Throughout his long career in politics, including the 2008 presidential race, McCain has gotten a $7.7 million boost from the NRA, the non-partisan center found.

McCain, 81, is now battling a deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. McCain's health has kept him in Arizona since before Christmas and it is unclear when he will return to Capitol Hill. He is not expected to seek a seventh Senate term in 2022.

In 2013, McCain also took heat from the right for supporting a bipartisan compromise on gun-purchase background checks that ultimately did not clear the Senate. McCain was one of only four Republicans to vote for the legislation offered by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Hogg has emerged as a vocal critic of the NRA after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

On Thursday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham apologized for saying in a tweet that Hogg was whining about not being accepted by four colleges. After Ingraham's Twitter insult, Hogg started a boycott of advertisers on Ingraham's Fox News show.

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.

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