NewDEAL’s Fall 2024 Class By the Numbers

In early September, NewDEAL Leaders announced that fifteen elected officials accepted the invitation to join the group. The leaders come from across the country, representing rural, suburban, and urban areas in blue, red, and purple states.

“Each state and local elected official selected for this class has shown passion, determination, and effectiveness in getting results for their communities,” NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan said when they were announced. “They are on the front lines of not only strengthening and protecting democracy and freedom but also ensuring that government meets modern challenges with common sense and efficacy.”

At NewDEAL, we value diversity in all its forms. We seek to elevate and promote leaders from a cross-section of America and ensure NewDEAL Leaders reflect all Americans, recognizing America is strengthened by our diversity.

In that vein, we’re excited that this is one of our most diverse classes ever. More than half of the new class (8 out of 15) are people of color and more than half (8 out of 15) are women. As always, they are working on many of the biggest policy challenges facing leaders in communities throughout the nation.

Let’s take a look at the new class by the numbers and on the issues (and you can check out the full list here!):

New Leaders: 15

States: 13, including one from each of the following states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont; and two from Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Positions: This year’s class includes elected officials in seven different positions in state and local government:

• City Government: 6, including three mayors, two city councilmembers, and one city comptroller.
• State Legislators: 7, including five state representatives and two state senators.
• Statewide officials: 2, including one Secretary of State (Jena Griswold of Colorado) and one Lt. Governor (Juliana Stratton of Illinois)

Gender: The new class is made up of eight women and seven men.

Race/Ethnicity: There are seven new members who identify as white; four who identify as Black; one Iranian-American; one Afro-Latino; one Native American, and one Asian American.

Age: NewDEAL is proud to promote and support young, rising officials. As such, 14 out of 15 members of the new class are in their 30s and 40s, with more than a quarter (4 out of 15) under the age of 40. The youngest new class member is 35-year-old Montana Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter.

Previous Experience: NewDEAL Leaders have held a diverse array of jobs before holding public office, helping inform their views on key issues ranging from the economy to child welfare to voting rights.

• Public Service: 9, meaning more than half of this year’s new class (9 of 15) previously served in government (as staff or in elected positions) prior to their current position.
• Child Welfare: 3. Three leaders worked on issues related to child welfare, including Phoenix Councilmember Kesha Washington, who worked to protect children in physically and sexually abusive environments as Assistant Attorney General; Colorado Rep. Lindsey Daugherty, who was a guardian ad litem, advocating for children in difficult family law cases; and Connecticut Sen. James Maroney, who started a business helping high school students achieve their higher education dreams.
• Educators: 3. Three new leaders are former teachers, including Georgia Sen. Jason Esteves; Montana Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter; and Williamsport (PA) Mayor Derek Slaughter, who was an Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
• Business and Finance: 3. Members of the new class have experience when it comes to business and finance. Newport Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong spent a career in finance in addition to serving as deputy chief of staff to Rhode Island’s state treasurer. North Dakota Rep. Jayme Davis, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe/Standing Rock Nation, founded the Circle of Nations consulting firm, which provides tailored solutions for strengthening the governance structures of Native Nations and Indigenous-led organizations. And Texas Rep. John Bucy is a small business owner.

Key Issues: Whether it is education, the economy, or defending democracy, NewDEAL Leaders will bring pragmatic solutions to today’s pressing issues. Here are a few issues that rank high on the agendas of this new class:

• Improving Local Government: Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler; Williamsport (PA) Mayor Derek Slaughter; Rutland (VT) Mayor Mike Doenges; and Terre Haute (IN) Mayor Brandon Sakbun are among those focused on making government work better, including by: improving digital and in-person experiences for constituents; increasing transparency; and making their cities and states more equitable for all citizens.
• Strengthening Democracy: With states and localities of the front lines of repairing and strengthening our democratic institutions, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Phoenix Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington are two of the leaders in the new class who are working to protect our elections, including by promoting voting rights, ensuring election security, and increasing ballot accessibility.
• Improving Education and Child Welfare: Santa Cruz Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson; Georgia Sen. Jason Esteves; and North Dakota Rep. Jayme Davis are examples of new class members prioritizing education and child welfare, including by working on affordable child care, ensuring parents have access to the tools and services they need, and improving our education system more broadly.
• Building a Strong, Equitable Economy: Leaders like Ohio Rep. Dontavius Jarrells; Texas Rep. John Bucy; and Montana Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter will bring their experience and expertise to help their states and communities build strong, equitable economies, leading in areas like support for small businesses.
• Other issues: Other priority issues include: Reproductive Freedom, Climate Change, AI, and Criminal Justice.

Notable Tidbits:

• North Dakota Rep. Jayme Davis is the first Native American to hold a leadership position in the North Dakota State Legislature, serving as the Democratic Caucus Chair.
• Before becoming a state senator, Georgia Sen. Jason Esteves worked as a teacher and served on the Atlanta Board of Education.
• In 2018, Jena Griswold was the youngest person ever elected as Colorado Secretary of State.
• Rachael Heisler is the first woman and youngest person to serve as Pittsburgh’s Controller.
• Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson is the first woman of color to serve on the Santa Cruz City Council.
• Derek Slaughter is the first African-American to serve as Mayor of Williamsport, PA.
• Juliana Stratton is the first African-American woman to become Illinois’ lieutenant governor, and the state’s fourth woman lieutenant governor overall.
• Kesha Washington is the first African-American woman elected to the Phoenix City Council.

You can read more about our NewDEAL Leaders here, including all the members of this new class.