NextGen America Announces $1 Million Effort in Virginia State Legislative Elections

Program includes voter registration, grassroots organizing, and a digital effort to mobilize young Virginians

Richmond, VA – Today, NextGen America announced its initial $1 million effort to register and mobilize young voters in Virginia’s state legislative elections. NextGen will run a robust digital campaign to reach hundreds of thousands of 18-35 year olds and register at least 12,000 young people to vote across the state. With 19 full-time staff and over 1,500 volunteers from last cycle, NextGen Virginia will focus on engaging voters in at least 6 House of Delegates districts and 5 State Senate districts to ultimately flip the state legislature to Democratic control. Over the past two years, NextGen Virginia has registered 40,000 young Virginians and the group also plans to turn out thousands of those voters this cycle.

“The stakes in Virginia’s 2019 elections could not be higher,” said NextGen America President Tom Steyer. “Democrats have a real shot at taking back both chambers, and young voters are exactly how we get there. With life-or-death issues like reproductive rights, climate change, and gun safety in the balance, we need to elect the leaders who will fight to protect every single Virginian.”

NextGen’s investment will focus initially on districts with large college student populations, including 6 House of Delegates districts (12, 26, 28, 66, 68, and 94) and 5 State Senate districts (7, 10, 12, 17, and 21), where the youth vote can tip the scales. In House District 28, for example, University of Mary Washington students will play a decisive role in electing young progressive Josh Cole. Similarly, Virginia State University students have the power to choose Sheila Bynum-Coleman as their Delegate to represent House District 66. NextGen’s efforts will center on 19 campuses overall, including 4 HBCUs and 3 community colleges.  

In 2017, NextGen Virginia helped send Chris Hurst and Dawn Adams to the House of Delegates. In Chris Hurst’s HD12, NextGen organizers registered 3,580 student voters from Radford University and Virginia Tech, more than making up Hurst’s 2,000 vote margin of victory. In Richmond’s HD68, NextGen registered four times Del. Dawn Adams’ margin of victory. Ultimately, 2017 youth turnout reached 34%, 8 points over the 2013 rate, and helped Democrats win 15 seats in the House of Delegates.

NextGen organizers harnessed the power of young voters yet again in 2018, helping boost 2018 youth turnout to 41%, up 21% over 2014. Incredibly, 63% of young Virginians organized by the NextGen field program turned out to vote. Furthermore, young voters that NextGen began organizing in 2017 turned out 10 points higher than those they first talked to in 2018, with 73% of them casting a ballot in the midterm elections. Young voters were instrumental in flipping three Congressional districts from red to blue and re-electing Senator Tim Kaine.

In the lead-up to November, NextGen will continue to connect with young voters on the issues they care most about. When the group surveyed over 28,000 young Virginians in 2018, they named gun safety, reproductive rights, and climate change as three top reasons they planned to vote in the midterm elections. With each issue at the forefront of young Virginians’ minds today, NextGen will remind them that by electing progressive leaders, they carry the torch of progress.