Young People Would Run for Office if they Had More Info

A few years ago EMILY's List did this amazing video asking women to run for office. They had found that the major reason women didn't run for office was because no one suggested it to them or asked them to run - where male candidates never needed to be asked, they just ran.

Given this new data, I wonder if the same is true for young people who could be young candidates.

"PoliticsUnder30.org, an effort by GW’s Graduate School of Political Management to support young people in politics, was recently launched to “help the young people of today become the political leaders of tomorrow,” said F. Christopher Arterton, dean of the school and professor of political management, of media and of advanced strategy. The Web site is targeted toward political science undergraduates across the country but will benefit students and professionals outside that group."

The survey suggests that 85% of young people surveyed said they would consider pursuing a career in politics if they had more information about it. Careers in politics sometimes lead to those who also seek elected office. Like training programs like Campaign Corps, PolitiCorps, CORO, and other programs GW's campaign school offers training in politics and policy preparing youth who seek a future in politics, but few seek out youth who could be good in careers in politics.

Not all of those who could be leaders or political operatives are Political Science majors. I think it would be a great service for programs like this to look at those outside of traditional polisci programs.

Another problem I see frequently as someone who works in politics is political parties who recruit people to run for office. All too frequently the candidates are older, wealthy, white people. But there is a lot of potential to develop young people in leadership positions who can grow experiences to seek higher office. At the same time young leaders can bring others to politics simply by their own presence or involvement.

In the spirit of the EL video... let me be one of the people to ask all of those reading this to run. RUN! You've been asked. RUN! Do it for your friends, your sisters and brothers - RUN - for better legislation that considers our generation. RUN for all that we can do as Millennials. RUN for our future.