‘Voting Became a Lot More Cool’: How Gen Z Showed Up for Biden

GEN, Mari Uyehara:

Generation Z and younger millennials may have once had a reputation as frivolous, but you don’t hear that as much these days, a result of the real power they’ve demonstrated via both social media and turning out in huge numbers at protests, all of which has led to electoral success. “Once students realize what elected leaders — attorneys general, local sheriffs — are making what decisions, it becomes a lot more pertinent to be involved in the way that they are running our communities,” Ciarra Malone, the Georgia state coordinator for Campus Vote Project, told me about youth turnout for down-ballot races.

The battle to flip Georgia’s two Senate seats blue is still a longshot — both Democratic challengers significantly trailed Biden in vote counts, as some GOP voters broke for Biden but stayed with Republicans in down-ballot races — but there’s hope. Another 23,000 Georgians will turn 18 before the January 5 runoffs. The New Georgia Project has identified another 100,000 people they’ll attempt to register by the December 7 deadline, estimating that they’ll add 20,000 more new voters to the rolls.

Read the full article here.