This story is part of the IDS’ national convention coverage. Follow reporter Mia Hilkowitz on X and IDS social media for updates.
CHICAGO — As Maxwell Downing listened to speakers at the Democratic National Convention’s Youth Council meeting Tuesday, one question was on their mind: would the Harris-Walz campaign commit to combatting climate change?
The 21-year-old activist — attending the convention in Chicago this week on behalf of the non-violent disruption group Climate Defiance — joined hundreds of other students and young democrats Tuesday to rally around their party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.
Downing wanted more from the candidate. They were disappointed when Harris called for a complete ban on fracking then shifted positions and that DNC speakers hardly talked about climate issues during the first night of the convention.
“My drive isn’t even my kids or my grandkids at this point, it’s me, right,” Downing said. “I’m from Connecticut and we just had a one in 1,000-year flooding event the other day. The climate crisis is here, and we don’t have a lot of time to fix it.”
Since she became her party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Harris has tried to connect with young voters, like Downing, on issues that have historically been important to the group, including combatting climate change, decreasing gun violence and protecting reproductive rights.
There will be around 40.8 million voters aged 18-27 eligible to vote in 2024, according to the Tuft’s University Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning and Engagement. About 45% of these Gen Z voters are youth of color. Some political analysists believe these key groups could tip the scales in a close presidential election this fall.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, further emphasized his campaign’s reliance on young voters during a surprise appearance at the Youth Council meeting.
“This thing’s going to be close,” Walz said. “It is going to be closer than it should be. It’s going to be won in the trenches. It’s going to be won by your demographic for the most part.”
Walz told attendees that one of his biggest fears is that “poisonous politics” will make young people cynical and believe elections do not matter. He said his own students got him engaged in politics when he was a high school teacher.
“When do you get to make a mark that stands up for people who don’t have a voice against the most powerful and the richest?” Walz asked the cheering crowd. “When do you get a chance to say, ‘we’re not only going to be listened to, we’re going to start leading and making the decisions?’ That is what’s happening right now.”
After Walz exited the stage, the attendees at the Youth Council tried to grab selfies with the candidate and cheered “We’re not going back.”
Bloomington City Clerk Nicole Bolden, a delegate for Indiana’s ninth congressional district, told the Indiana Daily Student she thinks it's important for young people from her district, where IU is located, to be able to attend the convention.
“How can we make that happen?” Bolden said. “We have these wonderful events. We’ve got this convention. It’s also really expensive. How do we actually talk to people there and say, ‘how can we cut the cost so that we can actually have more young people in the room, so they can actually come in and do this work without bankrupting themselves before they can even really start going?’”
Indiana has several young delegates attending the convention, including Bloomington City Councilmember and IU alumna Sydney Zulich, IU-Bloomington student Emma Shriberg and IU-Indianapolis student Connor Elliott.
Elliott, a 19-year-old delegate for Indiana’s sixth congressional district, said he connected with President Joe Biden during his original campaign for office in 2020, which inspired him to get involved with the Democratic Party. He said he wanted to attend the DNC to bring a youth voice to the convention.
“It’s just a very exciting time, especially for changing the nominee, to have the youth voice represented,” Elliott said. “To be able to show people my age that you can do this. You can be a voice at the convention, and you can be influential. All you have to do is try.”
The delegate said he used his time at the convention to meet political figures he admires, including U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. He also found time to network with other college Democrats from across the country.
Elliott said when Biden announced he was dropping out of the race in July, he had friends who were previously not interested in the election message him that their perspectives had changed.
“I think we’re seeing an excitement increase among the youth because they feel like they’ve been heard and they’ve been listened to,” he said.
He also said he thinks the Democratic Party’s effort to reach young voters — from having Team USA men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr speak at the convention to posting videos to TikTok — is working. While young people might be apathetic toward voting at times, Elliott said, they still want to feel heard by the Democratic Party and for it to address the issues they care about.
“Young people are very passionate about the issues,” he said. “They want to get involved in some way.”
Ethan Asher, 22, said young people are also motivated to vote by a range of other issues.
“Young people are hurting at the grocery store, at the gas pump, inflation is going to be an issue that impacts rent, housing, jobs,” Asher said. “Young people are disproportionately impacted by generally all of the issues we’re discussing, except for, like, maybe, social security.”
Cheyenne Phillips, 21, said she admires that the Harris campaign is running a “fun campaign” to reach young voters.
“What I like about the Harris campaign is that they are trying their best to be in touch with youth voters by using recent trends and things that we find to be more interesting, rather than doing elongated talks and panels and stuff that we can’t focus on for too long,” Phillips said. “We have school. We have work.”
Phillips also said young people do care about combatting issues like climate change, but there are often barriers to them making change.
“We have almost no say in what’s happening and the investments that companies and politicians are making and taking,” Phillips said. “I think that youth do care about climate change. There’s a huge thing about how maybe we don’t or we’re not active in it, but that’s not true. We want to be more active, we’re just never listened to and never given the chance to put our two cents in.”
— Mia Hilkowitz is a reporter and editor at the Indiana Daily Student. Contact her at mhilkowi@iu.edu.
