Young voters in nc should be all in for democrats
This election is a clear choice for young voters: vote for the candidates who will build a better future for our generation (Josh Stein and Kamala Harris) or vote for the candidates who are only focused on grievance and hatred (Mark Robinson and Donald Trump). The latter have made their campaigns about litigating the past and going after marginalized groups (women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants). Alternatively, Kamala Harris and Josh Stein paint a future for our state and our country that is inclusive, a future in which government actually works to advance the interests of its citizens, not the extremist, right-wing ideals of a loud minority.
The choice for young voters could not be more clear, with the 2024 Presidential election now set to be a match-up between the former prosecutor Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the twice-impeached, convicted felon and now the oldest Presidential candidate in history. Both in tone and policy Kamala Harris advances the issues and articulates the values that many young voters consider important. She sees America as a land of opportunity, one in which Americans who come together can solve big problems. Donald Trump, on the other hand, describes America as a dangerous, crime-ridden country (despite violent crime being lower now than it was four years ago during Trump’s presidency), a country which will not survive four more years of Democratic governance.
Given the differences between Republican and Democratic priorities, there is another powerfully compelling reason for young people in NC to come out in droves this year. They could decide the election for the country. In 2020, President Biden lost North Carolina by about 75,000 votes, the closest margin for any state that Former President Trump won that election. Looking at data from recent elections, 233,441 voters aged 18-25 voted in the 2022 Midterm elections, 587,340 voters aged 18-25 voted in the 2020 election. If young voters are able to show up in 2020-esque numbers, they could prove to be the key to a victory for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her campaign priorities include combating climate change, protecting reproductive rights, growing the U.S. economy, lowering everyday costs of healthcare, improving gun safety, and protecting our democracy, according to USA Today. As stated on his campaign website, Josh Stein is focused on fighting against corporations responsible for rising costs, protecting a woman’s right to choose, addressing housing affordability, and combating the climate crisis by putting North Carolina on a path to carbon neutrality by 2050
These priorities of economic justice, reproductive rights, housing affordability, and climate change are the very issues important to young Americans. In the annual Harvard Youth Poll, young voters ranked inflation, healthcare, housing, gun violence, jobs, corruption, protecting democracy, and women’s reproductive rights as the issues they consider most important.
Sloan Duvall, President of UNC Young Democrats puts it this way, “The Harris-Walz ticket is the dream ticket for young people. These are two individuals who have spent their careers fighting for Americans and delivering results. Vice President Harris represents a new generation of the Democratic Party, and as a savvy former prosecutor, she represents the ultimate contrast to a 78-year-old felon. Governor Walz is America's Dad. All young people can think of a teacher or a family member who reminds them of Governor Walz’s joyful outlook on life. Not only has Walz added an enthusiastic voice to the Democratic ticket, he has a history of success on the issues that matter to us such as passing gun safety legislation, codifying a woman's right to choose in Minnesota, and ensuring free school lunches for kids. These are issues we can all get behind and another reason why we're so excited to support the ticket,” said Duvall.
Consider the alternative. Former President Trump’s Project 2025 plan to reshape the American government advocates eliminating LGBTQ+ people from public life, banning contraception nationwide, gutting the Environmental Protection Agency, and eliminating certain income taxes and replacing them with extremely high tariffs that would only increase the cost of living in America. Mark Robinson, a proponent of hateful conspiracy theories, would severely restrict a woman’s right to choose, denies the holocaust, and spews homophobic and transphobic language, saying at a rally in 2023 that “God formed” him to fight LGBTQ+ rights and participation in public life. With such far-right radical views, a Governor Robinson would drive businesses out of North Carolina. There is a group of elected officials in Connecticut already penning an open letter to NC businesses, warmly inviting them to relocate their business to the northeast should Mark Robinson win.
Cecilia Derlon, Vice President of UNC Young Democrats, says of Robinson, “I mostly disagree with Mark Robinson in everything that he has said and done. From what I have seen, he, like Trump, does not have an agenda or plan for young people; rather he just spews hateful and honestly dangerous rhetoric that divides our state. Additionally, I really don’t agree with his policies specific to NC, such as rolling back common-sense gun safety legislation or aiming to ban abortions in North Carolina without exceptions.”
The message to young people from these campaigns is clear: Democrats look forward to a future — our future — and strive for a better America, whereas Republicans seek to return our country to a past when hard-won voting rights, reproductive rights, and the right to love and marry whom we wish did not exist. We must all speak through our votes that WE ARE NOT GOING BACK!