Hi John,
Run for Something's mission has always been to elect diverse YOUNG progressives. But, why the young?
One word: gerontocracy.
An ideal government would be an intergenerational mix — instead, ours is a government nearly exclusively by and for older folks. Right now, the average age in the House is 58. In the Senate, it's 63. Your median school board member is 59. Fewer than 6% of state legislators are under 35, while 20% of the U.S. voting-age population is 35 or under.
Young people are tired of their only voting options being people who don't have to live with the worst of climate change in 20 years. And it's hard to solve the affordable housing crisis when every elected official paid off their mortgage 10+ years ago.
Young voters deserve candidates who look like us, talk like us, think like us, and who will represent our values in office. That's Run for Something's mission — but how big an impact we have depends on our funding.
Donate $5 or more to elect diverse young progressives who will fight for the values of young people and make the government actually representative of all ages and demographics.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
The struggles of running as a young candidate are real. When asked which aspect of their identity was most challenging, nearly a third of Run for Something candidates cited their age — leading both racial identity
and sex.
One candidate told Run for Something that he was having trouble proving himself to be a top contender because he was young. Another shared that, as a young woman, her older male opponent liked to paint her as uninformed and inexperienced.
But here's the good news from our research: Overwhelmingly, our candidates said the most helpful thing Run for Something did was endorse their campaigns. Why? Because we give them legitimacy with organizations, other candidates, donors, and voters.
Ending the gerontocracy is as simple as having dedicated resources to help diverse young progressives run and win elected office. And Run for Something is the only organization doing that work.
In a system built by and for the gerontocracy, our candidates need all the support they can get. You're already part of the movement — help support diverse young progressives by donating to Run for Something right now.
Let's go,
Amanda Litman
Co-Founder
Run for Something
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Run for Something is a grassroots-powered organization that recruits and empowers young progressives running for local office, with the goal of winning permanent power for decades to come. We've elected over 600 diverse young progressives to power by relying on support from grassroots donors pitching in a little to create big change. Please chip in now to help us continue running and winning.
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