When an election is as tight as the one in 2020, from the presidency on down to the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, everyone is the reason we won. In Georgia, the Latino population is small, but their turnout was within the margin of victory. Same with the Asian community. Black voters. Urban voters. Women, including the white ones in the suburbs who used to vote Republican. There’s lots of credit to go around. 

But it also means that we need to do heavy lifting to keep winning and turning out that vote. If one of those groups feels disaffected, or neglected, our thin winning coalition becomes seriously imperiled. 

Today we’re going to look at the youth vote—how important it was in 2020, and how critical it will be in 2022 to have any chance of retaining control of both chambers of Congress, much less increase our majorities so that we can have a pro-ending-the-filibuster majority, one that renders obstructionist Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema irrelevant. Our guest will be Ben Wessel, the former executive director of NextGen America, an organization focused on youth voter turnout. 

YouTube Video

If you have any doubt about the importance of the youth vote, check this out: 

You can watch the show live, Tuesdays at 1:30 PM PT/4:30 PM ET, but I realize that’s not always the most convenient. So the podcast is a great alternative. It goes live Wednesday mornings at all the usual places, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. A full list of places to download the show is available here.