NextGen America Launches Largest Youth Vote Program in History
Will spend $30 million across ten states to turn out youth voters in 2018
Click here to watch the new video announcing NextGen America’s youth organizing program.
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, NextGen America announced its plans to launch the largest youth organizing program in American history ahead of the 2018 midterms elections. Across ten states, NextGen America will register, engage, and mobilize young voters, on and off campuses, to elect progressive candidates up and down the ballot. The youth organizing program — NextGen Rising — will run in Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, California, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Arizona.
“Today, we’re putting Donald Trump and the entire GOP on notice. Young voters are energized like never before, and have the power make the difference in 2018,” said NextGen America President Tom Steyer. “NextGen America is going to do all that we can to elect a Congress that represents us all —and send failed leaders like Paul Ryan, Darrell Issa, and Barbara Comstock back home.”
At $30 million, NextGen Rising’s 2018 program will be the largest youth vote organizing effort in American history. The program will help progressive candidates in at least 10 states, as well as more than 30 Congressional districts. This record-setting program will:
- Contact over half a million young voters to vote in the 2018 midterm,
- Register more than 250,000 young voters through face to face conversations, online and through the mail,
- Develop and train at least 2,000 volunteer leaders on campuses and in communities, and
- Hire at least 200 full time organizing staff and train 500 student fellows on more than 300 campuses.
The 2018 NextGen Rising program will build off its successful efforts to turnout out young voters in Virginia in 2017. NextGen’s 60 campus organizers and student fellows registered, motivated, and turned out student voters at 26 key colleges across Virginia, including five community colleges and four HBCUs. In just over two months, NextGen gathered over 20,000 voter registrations from young Virginians across the Commonwealth. Based on exit polls, young voter turnout (18-29) reached a record high of 34% in Virginia, up 8 points over 2013 and doubling 2009 turnout levels. Not only did young Virginians flood the polls, they also swung their votes towards progressive candidates, giving Ralph Northam a 69-30 advantage over Ed Gillespie and carrying House of Delegate candidates, like Chris Hurst and Dawn Adams, over the finish line.
Since July 2017, NextGen Rising has been passionately organizing young people in seven states ahead of the midterm elections. With 47 full-time staff, on 82 campuses across the country, NextGen Rising is already doing the work to flip Congress and elect progressives at every level in November.
“In 2017, from Virginia to Alabama, we saw young voters turn out in droves for progressive candidates up and down the ballot. NextGen America is building off that momentum to elect candidates that will fight for a progressive vision of the future. This year, young voters will be the largest eligible voting bloc in the country — and together, we’ll make history,” said Heather Hargreaves, Executive Director of NextGen America.