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In Congress, 60 is considered young.
So in my 30s, I’m basically a preteen! My age gives me a relatively unique perspective among my Congressional peers – and not just in my understanding of social media.
I know where the Democratic Party is missing the mark with young people – and what we need to do to fix it.
Here’s the deal. People in my generation (and younger) don’t really trust those in power or our institutions. And we have good reason for that. I was in 7th grade when the September 11th attacks happened, and then I watched the U.S. spend billions of dollars – and deploy millions of servicemembers – to fight endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was getting ready to graduate college during the Great Recession, when it was nearly impossible for so many young people to find jobs, or even places to live. And then came the COVID-19 pandemic, when our country’s young people missed out on so many parts of growing up, big and small – getting first jobs, learning in their classrooms, attending school dances.
Put simply, young people don’t trust that our leaders know how to get us out of the messes they got us into.
And all the while, we’re told that our opinions don’t matter as young people – to wait our turn; that we’re lazy, entitled, and ungrateful.
Here’s a hard truth for some: Democrats aren’t entitled to young people’s votes.
Despite the incredible strides we made under the recent Democratic trifecta – capping prescription drug costs, investing more than a trillion dollars in infrastructure, major action on climate, the first gun safety law in 30 years – we didn’t meaningfully improve young people’s ability to make ends meet.
Why? We failed to address the two biggest costs for young people, costs that are still outpacing inflation and making it harder for young people to get by: housing and child care .
I wrote an op-ed in Teen Vogue on this exact topic – where Democrats have fallen short when it comes to young people, and how we can fix this problem – and I hope you’ll take a couple minutes to read it. [[link removed]]
Young people don’t just want change, they need it. Because the problem isn’t that millennials and Gen Z'ers can’t budget, or don’t work hard enough, or that we’re eating too much avocado toast. The problem is that the status quo simply isn’t working for millions of people. And when I talk to my friends and peers, they see the Democratic Party as the party of the status quo — as the institutionalists who are fighting to protect systems that don’t work to begin with.
I want to be really clear about something – it’s not a bad thing that there are baby boomers and Gen X'ers in Congress. We need their experience and institutional knowledge!
But we also need to listen to the young people of this country who are begging for their concerns to finally be respected and addressed. Unless and until we do that, we won’t win back the support – or the votes – of young people in America.
You can read my full op-ed here. [[link removed]]
If you have feedback or reactions to share on this topic, I’d like to hear them. Reply to this email and let me know what you think.
Thanks for your time.
-Sara
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Congresswoman Sara Jacobs
California’s 51st District
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