By D’Anne Witkowski, Senior Copywriter
Look, I get it. President Biden is, like, very old. 81 years old, to be exact. Are there reasons to be concerned about that? Sure. Of course. But the media seems to be far more interested in reporting about Biden’s age than they are in reporting about disgraced former president Donald Trump’s undeniable crimes and his clear and present danger to American Democracy.
Also, Trump will be 78 in June. Which is also old! There’s only a three year age difference between Biden and Trump, and yet to read mainstream media accounts, Biden is a veritable crypt keeper and Trump is a spring chicken. And that is not accurate. They are both old men. And one is objectively worse than the other.
Our friend Julie from Distill Social is fond of asking, “Would you rather have a haircut or a beheading?” I mean, it depends on how bad the haircut is, amirite? Ha. No. I am not right. There is only one correct answer to this question and that is not volunteering to be decapitated. Duh. Use your head.
The fact is, older people, mostly Boomers, are pretty much in charge of everything in the United States and many of them are quite conservative. They hold a heap ton of elected offices at every level of government. For a very long time, Boomers were the largest generation in the U.S. But Millennials squeaked past them in 2019 and Gen Z was larger than the Boomers as of 2022. Both Millenials and Gen Z are more progressive on average than Boomers. And, gosh, wouldn’t it be something to see that change reflected in the balance of power in this country?
What would that take? Well, it would take more younger people to run for office at all levels of government. In every state.
The fact is, you can’t win if you don’t run. And for too long progressives have written off so-called “red” areas of the country as unwinnable. And so conservatives are running unopposed all over the place. That needs to stop. Progressives need to stop handing races to conservatives without a fight. Again, at every level of government. We’ve got to make them work for it. We’ve got to show them that an opposition exists. We’ve got to show voters that they have options. Especially younger voters.
Younger voters need to see younger candidates running. People who understand what it means to be 30 years old and buried under student debt, priced out of the housing market, and living in a gig economy. People who believe that climate change is real, that LGBTQ+ people are fully human, that the answer to gun violence isn’t a shrug, that racism is systemic, that sexism still holds women back, that there is no freedom without reproductive freedom.
Young people change the political dynamic in the areas that they run simply by being on the ballot. Young progressive candidates have the power to change the conversation. To challenge the status quo that largely seeks to comfort the already comfortable at the expense of everyone else. And, yes, when young progressive candidates run they can win, especially when young progressive voters turn out to vote. Young voters can change the course of an election.
In 2022, Florida elected the first Afro-Cuban and Gen Z member to Congress. Maxwell Frost is 25 years old and was previously the organizing director for March for Our Lives. He told The New Yorker that the first reaction to the idea of running for office was, “Hell no.” And yet, he eventually saw that there was a need for his voice in Congress. And so he did run. And he won.
Frost told The New Yorker that he understands “that progress is a function of time.” Change doesn't happen overnight. In fact, change in the United States is often frustratingly slow. Frost is looking ahead to see not just what legislation will pass this year or next, but what legislation “sets the tone for the future.”
“If you’re beginning and ending in 2023 and 2024, you’re probably going to be very discouraged,” he said. “I think about things more than the two-year or four-year term. When you think about things that way, it gives you a lot more hope, because you get a really holistic picture of the movement—the movement of progressive legislation.”
That movement needs more young progressives on board. As voters, yes, but also as candidates. At every level of government. In every state.
Whether you’re thinking about running or have already filed to run for office, you need people in your corner who can help you run a successful campaign. The Guerrilla Politic knows a thing or two about that. Hit us up. Let’s talk about how we can help each other. Because when you win, we all win.