How Gen Z and other young voters and candidates could help save American democracy
The nation’s youngest voters have gotten a lot of flak over our lack of enthusiasm for America’s two-party political system. Over half of Gen Z and millennial voters, including me, are registered as political independents. But this year, our votes may have helped save American democracy — at least for another two years.
Republican Party leaders have consistently and dangerously undermined American democratic processes at every turn, casting baseless doubts on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and downplaying a violent insurrection at our nation’s capital. And Americans under 30 — members of Gen Z and young millennials — appear to have helped block a widely expected “red wave” leading to a decisive and complete Republican takeover of Congress.
This isn’t the first time: Young people have now shown up to the polls and made an impact on national election outcomes for three consecutive election cycles, according to one analyst. That period coincides with Gen Z’s coming of age.
“Younger people … stopped the red wave in its course,” John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, told National Public Radio.
Exit polling for media organizations found that voters under 30 made up the only age group that overwhelmingly supported Democrats in the election, with over six in 10 voting for the party’s candidates for Congress. Exit polls also showed that unmarried women, who tend to be younger, preferred Democrats to Republicans by 37 percentage points.
As an unmarried, Gen Z woman, I’d like to say: You’re welcome, America.
There is some doubt about the extent to which the impact of young voters was unusual or important in this election. But the fact that young voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in support of progressive candidates is not only notable; it’s laudable.
Gen Z and young millennial voters aren’t just showing up to the polls; we’re running for office — and we’re winning. Florida’s Maxwell Frost, one of roughly 270 candidates under the age of 45 who ran for Congress this year, became the first member of Gen Z elected to the House of Representatives.
Frost, a 25-year-old, Afro-Cuban, progressive Democrat, ran on some of the issues that matter most to young voters: expanding health care, increasing housing access and addressing climate change. A former organizer for March for Our Lives, a student-led campaign for gun control, Frost supports stricter firearms laws.
James Roesener became the first openly transgender man in the country to be elected to a state legislature. New Hampshire voters elected the 26-year-old, bisexual Democrat, who campaigned on expanding health care and disability rights, investing in public schools, legalizing cannabis, and supporting gender-affirming treatment and anti-discrimination legislation.
Joe Vogel, a 25-year-old Uruguayan immigrant who campaigned on LGBTQ+ rights and gun violence prevention, became Maryland’s first Gen Z state legislator.
Locally, the Sacramento City Council is also experiencing a generational shift. District 3 will soon have a millennial representative, as City Council candidates Karina Talamantes and Michael Lynch are both 33 years old. And in District 5, 31-year-old Caity Maple is leading the race in early vote counts.
These young candidates won by campaigning on issues that matter to young voters — not, in contrast to some of their Republican counterparts, conspiracy theories, bigotry or censorship. Gen Z is rightfully claiming a place in American politics that reflects our real concerns, and we’re not done yet.
“Half of Gen-Z isn’t even old enough to vote yet,” Frost, the Gen Z congressman-elect, wrote on Twitter. “Over the coming years, we’ll see the youth vote become even more of a force to be reckoned with. What we want is bold transformational change.”
Despite our pronounced preference for Democrats, young people are disillusioned with the leaders of both parties to an extent. President Joe Biden’s approval rating among Gen Z Americans is abysmal: Only one in 100 young people say they “strongly approve” of his performance, while 94 in 100 young Democrats say a different nominee should run for president in 2024, according to a recent New York Times poll.
And who can blame us? Young voters are “more liberal than any other cohort of young people has been in half a century,” according to The Atlantic. More often than not, that means we don’t see ourselves adequately represented by either party. Even with Democrats in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, progress has been slow. And with the average age of Democrats in Congress being 61, the party’s policies are not as progressive as ours.
We’re worried about our future, our rights and our planet. It’s time for more radical change, and young people are ready to provide it.