Young progressives are winning elections in North Carolina the old-fashioned way
“Gen Z,” those of us born after 1996, are underrepresented in political leadership by design; in North Carolina, you have to be at least 25 to run for state senate, and the NC Attorney General’s office ruled in 1999 that all house representatives have to be at least 21.
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.
This could be a coincidence. More likely, it’s a signal of a foundational change in the political landscape. The young people winning these races are going about it the old-fashioned way — talking to people, actually listening to them, and building up their community.
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.”
Younger people also are finding success within the Republican Party. In North Carolina, the youngest member of the General Assembly is 27-year-old Jake Johnson, a Republican from suburban Henderson County. North Carolina also claims the youngest member of the U.S. Congress, 26-year-old Madison Cawthorn (also from Henderson County).
Cawthorn in particular reminds us that not all young people are progressive, or even willing to skew socially moderate. Both men, however, are examples of youthful energy being harnessed by the Republican Party at a time when the GOP is thinking about how to recruit Millennial and Gen Z voters, especially from outside urban areas.
Anderson Clayton, 23, is the chair of the Person County Democratic Party and has seen her own energy translate into seats for Democrats in local elections. Prior to her onboarding, the county party was not active on social media, not holding regular community events, and not speaking up. Clayton, who worked on the Harris and Warren campaigns in the 2020 Democratic primaries, began changing that by knocking doors, talking to people about their needs, and getting people registered to vote.
“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.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 2:07 PM.
