Democrats, other organizations pursuing Florida’s millennial voters
The sweeping victories won by Democrats in Virginia this month were spearheaded by a spike in turnout among one group in particular — millennials.
Now, local and national political organizations have targeted Florida as one of the next battlegrounds to energize that younger generation to vote — or even run for office.
“Young voters are more likely to turn out when there’s people like them on the ballot,” said Olivia Bercow, a spokeswoman for the group NextGen America. “Young and diverse and talking about issues they care about.”
NextGen was founded by billionaire Tom Steyer, who also has funded TV ads and billboards pushing for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. The group is also one of several progressive organizations focused on turning out young voters, including Flippable, MobilizeAmerica and Run For Something.
Turnout in the Nov. 7 election in Virginia among 18- to 29-year-olds, Bercow said, was up 10 percent from 2013. Those young voters came to the polls, she and others said, in part because of strong down-ballot candidates — those running in local and state house races — and in turn created what one called “reverse coattails” that helped the gubernatorial candidate at the top of the ticket.
“I’ve been in politics for 25 years, and one thing I can say with wisdom is there is no ‘conventional wisdom’ anymore,” said Ross Morales Rocketto, co-founder of Run For Something.
The group hopes to follow up its successful 2017 campaigns by recruiting 50,000 people nationally to run in 2018, with the goal of ultimately getting 1,000 candidates on ballots across the country on Election Day.
Already, the group has endorsed state House District 47 Democratic candidate Anna Eskamani, 27, running in the central Orange County district to succeed outgoing state Rep. Mike Miller, R-Winter Park.
Veterans of the Virginia election also agreed on another strategy for Democrats — leaving no