Us old farts have our place. We bring knowledge and experience to politics. But there is no substitute for youthful energy. (I’ve seen that firsthand recently.) Perhaps younger activists can save this country from us yet.
Sara Pequeño of McClatchy’s North Carolina Opinion Team has been watching the changing of the guard in her state:
Despite the age restrictions, young, progressive candidates are showing up and winning across North Carolina, even in the state’s rural counties. In Kinston, 21-year-old Chris Suggs became the youngest elected official in North Carolina when he received the most votes for Kinston City Council. In Boone, 22-year-old Jon Dalton George was re-elected to a seat on the town council after his appointment in August.
What’s important to note is that these electeds are from rural counties. Kinston, southeast of Raleigh in Lenoir County, voted for Trump by 3.5 points in 2020. Boone in Watauga County borders Tennessee and is home to Appalachian State University. Watauga voted for Biden by 8 points.
Despite living on opposite sides of the state, both men were involved in organizing for years. Suggs created Kinston Teens, a youth empowerment non-profit, when he was 14 years old and continues to serve as its executive director. At UNC-Chapel Hill, he served as president of the Black Student Movement and as the senior class president for the 2021 graduates. In the last year, Suggs took part in organizing vaccination drives in Lenoir County.
“At the time there were so many issues going on in Kinston that were really affecting young people,” Suggs told The Daily Tar Heel. “I felt like none of the community leaders were really engaging young people, asking us what we felt about these issues.”
George, on the other hand, moved to Boone to attend Appalachian State University but became known for his housing advocacy and his push to protect the school’s early voting precinct. He received votes from students and locals alike, thanks to the time he spent knocking doors in Boone neighborhoods, and says that Boone’s progressive elders have been encouraging to younger people looking to make their voices heard.
“We’re the generation that is going to have to deal with the most,” George says of his win. “I think it is really interesting that sometimes, youth is used as a negative or an attack. If anything, it gives us more reason to be invested in our communities and the issues we’re advocating for.”
Youthful exuberance has its drawbacks
The Republicans have their young-uns, too, Rep. Madison Cawthorn prominent (or infamous) among them. Cawthorn (who lives in the new NC-14) announced this week he will switch districts in 2022 and run in NC-13 to prevent another “establishment, go-along-to-get-along Republican” from winning there. This would put him running head-to-head in a Republican primary against N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, a conservative stalwart widely expected to run for Congress next year. Moore subsequently announced he would run for reelection to the N.C. House instead in a new congressional district state Republicans gerrymandered for him.
Try not to laugh, writes Yahoo News’ Editorial Board. “Turns out that unconditional loyalty isn’t as politically productive as Republicans thought it would be. Apparently, they’ve yet to learn what others have long known: people like Cawthorn aren’t loyal to anyone but themselves.”
Competing everywhere
The Democrats are getting a clue about making their presence known in rural areas they have long forfeited to the GOP. Their successes are instructive for red-state Democrats who need to regain control of state legislatures.
I’ve profiled Anderson Clayton, 23, before. In October, she helped Democrats in Roxboro, N.C. (rural Person County) elect their first-ever majority-minority city council, including its first two Black women:
“People keep saying, ‘How do we reach rural voters?’ and I’m like, “How do we reach rural Democrats?” Clayton says. “There are people in these communities that are just not voting our way and that are not voting at all because they don’t feel like they have power in their vote, and that’s a problem. Their votes were being left on the table. With the Person Dems, I was just kind of able to help build that energy back up.”
This energy is coming to suburban North Carolina too: Danny Nowell, a Millennial candidate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, won in the Carrboro town council election. Ricky Hurtado, a 32-year-old state representative and the only Latino in the General Assembly, won in Alamance County last year. With these wins and this energy, we should remember that all of North Carolina — not just our big cities — deserve that energy too.
Granted, Carrboro is a bedroom community for UNC Chapel Hill. But Alamance County voted for Trump by over 8 points in 2020. Alamance is 63% white (non-Hispanic/Latino), 21% Black or African American, and 13% Hispanic/Latino. Hurtado, a Democrat, won narrowly by 1 point.
Youthful hustle pays. Democrats higher up the political food chain, take notice.