College Athletes Team Up with NextGen America for the Midterms
Over 50 athletes will provide voting resources to millions of young voters on social media
Austin, TX — Today, NextGen America launched its inaugural athlete influencer campaign – “Draft for Democracy” – to register and engage millions of young voters ahead of the midterm elections. As part of its national influencer program, NextGen will collaborate with over 50 college athletes, predominantly Division I, and leverage their impactful social media platforms to promote civic engagement to their audiences.
Some athletes include stars like University of Michigan’s offensive linemen Zak Zinter, University of New Hampshire gymnast Kenadi Brown, University of Nevada-Las Vegas men’s basketball forward Keyshawn Hall, Penn State soccer defenseman Tyger Evans, and NC State women’s basketball guard Diamond Johnson.
“NextGen is excited to draft college athletes across the country to the best organizing team in the game ahead of November,” NextGen America President Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez said. “By harnessing the power and influence of local athletes in key battleground states, we look forward to engaging a broad audience of young people who have been left out of the conversation for far too long. In collaboration with our athletes, NextGen will champion the voices of young people everywhere in creative and unexplored ways.”
Partnerships in NextGen’s athlete influencer program are capitalizing on the recent NIL rules, which allow athletes to profit on their name, image, and likeness. This type of partnership is ground-breaking and only the second-ever use of NIL to support civic engagement. It is a new frontier for athletes to profit off their public personas and marks a historic shift in the way sports and voting coincide.
NextGen kicks off this campaign as it engages and registers college students for Welcome Week as they return to campus throughout August and September. In Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, and New Hampshire, more than 100 field organizers mobilizing at over 115 college campuses are providing young voters with resources ahead of the 2022 midterms.
About NextGen America
NextGen America is the leading national organization for engaging young people through voter education, registration and mobilization. We invite 18-to-35 year olds — the largest and most diverse generation in American history — into our democracy to ensure our government works for them and to find new solutions to the dire challenges facing our society and the world. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered more than 1.4 million young voters and educated many millions more.