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Leading Youth Groups Issue Joint Response to Biden Announcement
Today, in response to President Biden’s re-election announcement, leading youth groups, Sunrise Movement, March for Our Lives, Gen Z for Change and United We Dream sent a joint letter to President and candidate Biden.
With Gen Z poised to play a significant role this election, the four organizations are calling on President Biden to 1) legislate boldly in 2024 and 2) run on a platform that energizes young people as he builds his campaign.
The text of the letter is below.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Dear President and candidate Biden,
We write to you as leaders from a diverse set of youth groups who specialize in organizing and mobilizing young voters in elections and politics. We have collectively led some of the most significant mass mobilizations of our generation, regularly reach millions of young people across the country, and helped deliver the margins of critical elections up and down the ballot in recent election cycles. With that in mind, we want to share what young people need to see from you to get excited about your reelection run.
As the organizers of millions of young people across the country, we know that in order to secure wins against fascism in the 2024 presidential election, Millennials and Gen-Z will have to turn out to vote in full force. Following the results of 2018, 2020, 2022, and most recently the Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023, it is clear that young people are not just a necessary part of a winning Democratic coalition, but the keystone precondition for Democratic victory. The equation is simple. When Democrats energize and mobilize our generations, they win elections. When they don’t, they lose.
Going into 2024, our youth coalition is deeply committed to defeating fascist, right-wing extremism and the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Young people are clear that the runaway extremism of abortion bans, threats to trans students, criminalization of immigrants, and the all out assault on our climate are existential threats to our generation and generations to come. But when bad decisions are made – like approving the Willow Project, denying asylum and citizenship for millions of immigrants, and settling for the status quo – it’s harder for us to get young people to the polls. That’s why we need you to listen and co-govern with us if we’re going to be able to mobilize the young voters we need to win.
With young people again poised to play a critical role deciding the next president, we urge you to lead with our generation’s values and policies at the forefront of your campaign and your next year in office. Despite popular belief, young people do not just vote for candidates based on age or even charisma. We vote on issues. That means the Democratic nominee must run on a platform that speaks to the needs of our generation, and have policy wins that energize young voters to get to the polls.
We must remind you that your presidential platform in 2020 was not only successful, but one of the most progressive platforms this country has seen. It was a platform that championed the issues of our generation – from bold policies to stop the climate crisis to canceling student loan debt. It was running on this platform that ultimately defeated former President Donald Trump in 2020, and also what mobilized voters in 2022 to stop the Red Wave most pundits deemed unavoidable.
In spring of 2022, young voters were largely disillusioned with politics and were not excited to vote. That changed once you passed a historic climate bill, passed overdue gun safety legislation, and sought to cancel student loan debt – resulting in the second-highest youth midterm turnout in the past 30 years. Now, more than ever, we cannot abandon this two part strategy – run on bold ideas young people can rally behind and have significant legislative victories to back them up.
Going into the 2024 presidential election, it is clear that our opponents are getting even more ruthless and extreme. Across the country we’ve seen abortion bans, transgender bathroom bans, book bans in schools imposed by Republican extremists. We’ve seen Republican electeds say they will do nothing to stop gun violence, expel those who disagree with them from office, and attempt to ban educational opportunities and threaten the livelihood of immigrants in our communities. They must be stopped.
As Fox News hosts and Republican strategists make it a goal to bring young people into the Republican Party ahead of 2024, we urge you to not leave our generation behind as you build your new campaign. Do not take our generation for granted.
We are a generation that grew up through crisis – from watching storms decimate our communities to practicing school shooter drills to living through a global pandemic. Throughout all of these crises, young people have shown up to demand the transformational change the country needs. We are fighters for a better world. That will not change in 2024.
If we’re going to excite one of the leading voting blocs for Democrats, we need you to deliver the bold ideas that our generation cannot live without – stop the climate crisis, fight for the rights and dignity of immigrants, impose real gun control – and run on a bold platform that will get our generation out to vote.
Signed,
March for Our Lives
Gen Z for Change
Sunrise Movement
United We Dream Action
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
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Some of Democrats who voted in favor have since said they will no longer support the bill.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) released the following statement on Monday: "I have heard loud and clear from folks in my district and understand the concerns of my constituents, non-profit leaders and their staff. The incoming administration's recent Cabinet nominations give me little faith that this tool would be used as originally intended. Therefore, I have decided to vote against H.R. 9495 and will continue acting in our district's and nation's best interests."
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Lia Holland, the campaigns and communications director at Fight for the Future, said in a statement that "it's a disappointment but not a surprise to find Democrats voting for a bill to punish student protests against genocide on the wrong side of their entire values system. Over and over again, we've seen how legislative efforts designed to oppress dissent and silence speech end up burning their progenitors."
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Others have also critiqued the proposed legislation on broader civil rights and free speech grounds.
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