Leaders We Deserve
Today, I am excited for you to be among the first to know that we, alongside Kevin Lata, Congressman Maxwell Frost’s Campaign Manager, are launching Leaders We Deserve: An organization designed to build a new political movement aimed at electing courageous young people to state and federal office. We hope you will join us in building this movement. To understand the genesis of Leaders We Deserve, I want to share with you my own journey that has brought me to this moment and what has brought me to realize that this is the best way to make the fundamental changes necessary to building a more fair and just America.
Before the Parkland shooting, I had little faith in politics and politicians. I felt that every politician was corrupt and stood for nothing. From this cynicism, I had been inspired to become a journalist, wanting to ask the questions that politicians were too afraid to answer. Now, in conjunction with my subsequent activism with March For Our Lives, I have realized that we must do more than simply point out what is wrong with the system. We must act to change it.
Young Americans have realized this as well. In every year of Donald Trump’s presidency, a new chapter of the movement has started. From the newest chapter of the feminist movement in the Women’s March, to the youth led March For Our Lives to strengthen gun laws, to the climate movement with Sun Rise, and to the Black Lives Matter movement in his final year, Young Americans today are working hand-in-hand with the older generations of activists and becoming the next leaders of change.
These movements played a major role in the highest voting rates of young people in American history in 2018, 2020, and 2022. More meaningfully, 18–29 year olds no longer just vote half for one party and half for the other, effectively splitting their vote was was the case in 2000. Instead, they are very clearly voting for Democrats by a massive percentage; this was a significant reason why Democrats won the House in 2018, the Presidency and Senate in 2020, and made the red “wave” into a ripple in 2022.
The Republican response has been startling but unsurprising. Rather than change their policies, they have decided to do everything to stay in power by changing who is eligible to vote. By restricting on-campus voting, passing discriminatory voter-ID laws, and waging a war on the education system, they seek to make us forget that we are one nation, under God, Indivisible with liberty and Justice for ALL.
Republicans have also tried to play into the cynicism that I, myself, once felt by making young Americans believe that the political system is simply so broken that there is no point in trying to make it better. They know that if we believe a better government is possible, we will make it happen, and their stranglehold on power will be forgotten. Poor government is not a consequence of our system; it is the consequence of their bad leadership.
To fix these issues, we must improve our leadership. The empowered youth, who grew up leading impactful movements such as March For Our Lives and School Strike for Climate, are now graduating high school and college. They can now vote, they can now run for elected positions, and they can now be the better leaders we need. We can help them do that. During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, political office was largely inaccessible to many, including young figures like John Lewis. Lewis led the way in breaking down those barriers and empowering other emerging leaders to join him. His legacy lives on today in the likes of Tennessee Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and many others. Leading movements from the outside and pointing out flaws of our system is not enough. Alongside movements on the outside that hold our leaders accountable, we need new leaders on the inside to do the right thing when it matters most.
In 2021, knowing this, I got a call from Maxwell Frost, then March For Our Lives’ first National Organizing Director. Maxwell told me he wanted to run for Congress. In the past, I hadn’t done much work to support politicians because I didn’t, and still don’t, trust them. But Maxwell wasn’t a politician. He was a friend. So, when he asked, I threw my hat in the ring and went all in to support him. Maxwell had started as one of those leaders on the outside. Active in the gun violence prevention movement since he was 15 years old, he knew how to organize, so I focused on his biggest obstacle: raising money early on. I was able to raise him $380,000. This early boost gave him legitimacy and even more support. Eventually, Maxwell, only 25-years-old, ended up defeating 10 others in the race, including two former members of Congress. Maxwell is now the first Gen Z and first Afro-Cuban person in Congress. He leads the charge on gun safety on the inside. This isn’t just limited to just Maxwell or just Congress. Young people, like Nabeela Syed in Illinois, Jasper Martus in Michigan, Shara McBride in Delaware, and more are being elected around the country. These are new leaders we can trust on the inside. But this is not nearly enough.
We are living in a time of environmental destruction, hatred, and violence. We feel it in our communities, schools and homes. Every day we see more stories about the devastating impact of climate change, school shootings, corruption, hate crimes, and more. We see more stories of people struggling to make ends meet with a generation that has yet to recover from the gutting of the middle class spearheaded by Reagan and supercharged by the Great Recession. We see backsliding in our democracy. There is no amount of moral pleading that will change this anymore. There is one thing that politicians respond to above all else: power. In prior decades, the barriers for movement organizers on the outside to enter politics was too high. Now, thanks to the work of previous generations of organizers in the civil rights, environmental, women’s and LGBTQ+ movements, our young generations have one of the greatest political opportunities to do good this century.
As many of the Baby Boomers in these movements retire, we have a massive opportunity. Gen Alpha and the future generations of our country are counting on us to seize this moment. We must start to get the movement leaders on the outside into the inside of politics. This work will take decades, but we have the greatest advantage on our side in politics: time. We are going to outlive the Supreme Court and most currently elected officials. We are faced with a question: will we be the leaders we deserve, at this crucial moment in our history? I believe the answer can be yes. But we have to get to work now and elect more young leaders at the state level.
Conservatives have long realized the meaning of the state legislature. Utilizing the Powell memo, they have played a 50-year chess game with state legislatures and the courts that has brought us to where we are today. State by state, conservatives have intentionally weakened the government to stop social progress and to empower corporate America, gutting the middle class for their shareholders.
We can realize that same meaning now. Each state offers us the opportunity to pass progressive policies, see what survives the court system, and test innovative policies before bringing them to the federal level. When it comes to an issue like reducing the number of gun deaths, change cannot simply come from the federal government. It must start in state legislatures. Since the launch of March For Our Lives, over 30 States have already passed over 130 new gun safety laws. Meanwhile the federal government has only passed one in the past 30 years. With the likes of the federal filibuster, sStates offer us the opportunity to build a bench of people to run for higher office and pass innovative laws. Plus, the money can go much further because state elections are so overlooked.
That is why I am announcing the launch of Leaders We Deserve, in partnership with Kevin Lata, Maxwell Frost’s campaign manager. This organization will focus on electing more young Democrats, mainly targeting state legislature races along with a few congressional races. We will focus on electing people under the age of 30 to state legislatures and under 35 to federal office. As an organization, we are making our top focus investing in states that have not flipped yet, such as Florida and Texas, but stand a solid chance of doing so in the next decade and a half.
Our approach to instigating change will be rooted in investing in promising candidates for open-seat blue primaries where Democrats are the overwhelming favorites and the incumbents are not seeking re-election. Rather than casting a wide net, we intend to concentrate our efforts on nurturing quality candidates, with a focus on partnering closely with 15 to 30 prospective leaders, contingent on our funding availability. Our commitment includes connecting these individuals with experienced mentors, proficient managers, and a supportive team, enabling them to start organizing and fundraising effectively from an early stage.
As the races progress towards their conclusion, our strategy involves directing resources towards independent expenditures to bolster our candidates’ chances of success. We’re also actively engaging with the young people, particularly those involved in recent social movements, encouraging them to consider running for office.
Furthermore, we’re mobilizing a robust volunteer network spanning across all age groups to support our candidates’ efforts through door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, and other campaign activities. Myself, and members of the organization, will personally visit these districts to inspire crowds at rallies, participate in door-knocking, and collaborate with our dedicated volunteers on the ground.
Although we might consider participating in highly competitive races where a younger candidate could have a distinct advantage, our primary focus for now will be the open-seat blue primaries. After the primaries, our efforts will shift towards young victors who may be facing a challenging general election, ensuring they have all the resources and support they need to succeed.
These seats may feel safe, but we believe it is critical that young people see more candidates who look like and share the experiences of young voters, such as Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. These candidates will help shine a much needed light on the power of the state legislatures and inspire more young people to vote across the state.
Then, as we build from these safer seats up, we intend to scale up toward those harder races, both on the state and federal level. Crucially, though, we believe that our organization must reflect the values we want to see in our candidates. If we don’t do as well as we would have hoped on a race, we will tell you. If we do better, we’ll tell you as well. This process will take time. But, with enough time and consistent investment, the results will come.
Today, we are launching Leaders We Deserve with grassroots donors like yourself because we believe in our generation. We want to build a new grassroots political movement to elect courageous young people with strong values all across America. We can only do this with your help and support. We believe running the marathon that making progress is takes a left and right foot to move forward. We have to play the inside and outside game. We need movements to hold all elected officials accountable but we need more leaders we deserve as well.
The first thing we need is consistent investment. With month support, we can meet, vet, and recruit candidates far before election day. We can give them constant training and run volunteer operations. Most importantly, we can make sure they succeed.
Joining us in this effort on our advisory board are
I believe in our mission. If you do too, please become a founding donor by donating $23 (my age) at leaderswedeserve.com
Thank you.