Gen Z politicians are already making change, and they’re starting with gun safety laws
Politics is dominated by older folks. The median age of voting members of the House is 57.9 years, while in the Senate it’s 65.3 years. The age of the average American? 38.5. Young people have learned how to mobilize for action. Just look at March for Our Lives, which has brought together millions of young Americans to call for the end of gun violence. But when it comes to running for office, a next step to create lasting change, many might not be sure how to do that. Activists David Hogg and Kevin Lata are trying to change that with the political action committee they cofounded, Leaders We Deserve. Young people likely don’t have access to wealthy donor networks, don’t know how to ask for funding, or don’t even know how to get signatures to run in the first place, Lata said at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, where he appeared with Hogg in a panel called “Gen Z for America: How Young Leaders Are Shaping the Future of Politics.” [Photo: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company] Lata is the executive director of Leaders We Deserve. Hogg, the president of the PAC, also cofounded March for Our Lives after the 2018 shooting at his high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, in Parkland, Florida. As an activist after the Parkland shooting, Hogg was hesitant to endorse politicians, especially Democrats who long haven’t taken strong actions against guns. But after his friend and coworker at March for Our Lives Maxwell Frost became the first Gen Z member of Congress, Hogg and Lata (who was Frost’s campaign manager) decided to create Leaders We Deserve to help more young, progressive Americans get elected. With March for Our Lives, Hogg saw millions of young people taking action, so he knew there were opportunities when it came to getting some of those young people into office. “I know there’s a thousand more people like Maxwell out there that just don’t have the resources to get elected,” he said at the festival, adding that Frost had to drive for Uber from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night to make money while he was running for Congress. Fundraising is just one hurdle to getting more young people in office. There’s also the fact that being a politician can, frankly, be an unappealing job, full of stress, threats, inter-party fighting, and general negativity. To get around that and encourage young people to dive in, Hogg and Lata like to point to the actual change young people can bring about once elected. Take Leaders We Deserve’s first elected candidate Nedarius Clark, who became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in June 2023 at 26 years old. He got $100,000 in support and won by just 800 votes, giving the Democrats a one-seat majority. With that majority, he was able to kill a Republican-proposed bill to arm teachers, Hogg said, and also sponsored a bill to give tax credits for the purchase of gun safes and locks, which was signed into law. “That is the power of when you run,” Hogg said. For young voters, it’s also about challenging their cynicism that all politicians are corrupt. When supporting Molly Cook, who who won a Texas state legislature seat in May 2024, Hogg knocked on a door answered by the homeowner’s 20-year-old son. As Hogg talked about Cook and why he was working to elect her, the man said, per Hogg, “‘She sounds great, but what corporations are funding her?’” To that, Hogg said, “I got to say, because she’s a Leaders We Deserve-endorsed candidate, that she doesn’t take any corporate money.” Hogg and Lata aren’t expecting every single member of Gen Z to run for office now. In fact, they don’t even want that. “We’re not trying to find a thousand people for us to support very minimally,” Hogg said. “We’re trying to find truly generational leaders that can be the inspiration to get people engaged in politics and believe in something bigger than themselves, to fight the self-fulfilling prophecy that says that nothing is ever going to get better, so why bother even trying?”
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Politics is dominated by older folks. The median age of voting members of the House is 57.9 years, while in the Senate it’s 65.3 years. The age of the average American? 38.5.
Young people have learned how to mobilize for action. Just look at March for Our Lives, which has brought together millions of young Americans to call for the end of gun violence. But when it comes to running for office, a next step to create lasting change, many might not be sure how to do that.
Activists David Hogg and Kevin Lata are trying to change that with the political action committee they cofounded, Leaders We Deserve. Young people likely don’t have access to wealthy donor networks, don’t know how to ask for funding, or don’t even know how to get signatures to run in the first place, Lata said at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, where he appeared with Hogg in a panel called “Gen Z for America: How Young Leaders Are Shaping the Future of Politics.”
Lata is the executive director of Leaders We Deserve. Hogg, the president of the PAC, also cofounded March for Our Lives after the 2018 shooting at his high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, in Parkland, Florida.
As an activist after the Parkland shooting, Hogg was hesitant to endorse politicians, especially Democrats who long haven’t taken strong actions against guns. But after his friend and coworker at March for Our Lives Maxwell Frost became the first Gen Z member of Congress, Hogg and Lata (who was Frost’s campaign manager) decided to create Leaders We Deserve to help more young, progressive Americans get elected.
With March for Our Lives, Hogg saw millions of young people taking action, so he knew there were opportunities when it came to getting some of those young people into office. “I know there’s a thousand more people like Maxwell out there that just don’t have the resources to get elected,” he said at the festival, adding that Frost had to drive for Uber from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night to make money while he was running for Congress.
Fundraising is just one hurdle to getting more young people in office. There’s also the fact that being a politician can, frankly, be an unappealing job, full of stress, threats, inter-party fighting, and general negativity. To get around that and encourage young people to dive in, Hogg and Lata like to point to the actual change young people can bring about once elected.
Take Leaders We Deserve’s first elected candidate Nedarius Clark, who became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in June 2023 at 26 years old. He got $100,000 in support and won by just 800 votes, giving the Democrats a one-seat majority. With that majority, he was able to kill a Republican-proposed bill to arm teachers, Hogg said, and also sponsored a bill to give tax credits for the purchase of gun safes and locks, which was signed into law. “That is the power of when you run,” Hogg said.
For young voters, it’s also about challenging their cynicism that all politicians are corrupt. When supporting Molly Cook, who who won a Texas state legislature seat in May 2024, Hogg knocked on a door answered by the homeowner’s 20-year-old son. As Hogg talked about Cook and why he was working to elect her, the man said, per Hogg, “‘She sounds great, but what corporations are funding her?’” To that, Hogg said, “I got to say, because she’s a Leaders We Deserve-endorsed candidate, that she doesn’t take any corporate money.”
Hogg and Lata aren’t expecting every single member of Gen Z to run for office now. In fact, they don’t even want that.
“We’re not trying to find a thousand people for us to support very minimally,” Hogg said. “We’re trying to find truly generational leaders that can be the inspiration to get people engaged in politics and believe in something bigger than themselves, to fight the self-fulfilling prophecy that says that nothing is ever going to get better, so why bother even trying?”
