Young Politicians

I saw an article recently in the Forum about young people entering politics in Minnesota and North Dakota. I found it quite interesting (partially because I know one of them), and emailed the story to the Student Senators with a note: "Those of you that enjoyed lobbying, just think...you could be there someday, as a Representative!"

Since you need a password to access archives older than a week, I'll post the text of the article below.

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Young Entering Politics

Fargo Forum, April 10, 2006

On the first day of this year’s recent North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Convention, Zachary Ista sat near the back of the hall behind three silver-haired delegates. Instead of his daily uniform of blue jeans and casual button-down shirts, he wore a pale-brown suit and navy shirt. He bought the ensemble the day before over his mom Loris’ objections that the lime-green tie was “too Starburst.”

At 20, Ista, a North Dakota State University junior, is the only endorsed Democratic House candidate from West Fargo’s District 13. If elected in November, he’ll join the exclusive club of state legislators in their 20s. They make up less than 1 percent in a group with an average age of 53, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ista is among a spate of North Dakota and Minnesota college students and recent grads who’ve taken a crack at local and state elected offices, undercutting the cliché of the apathetic, jaded twenty-something. Their age might cause them to jut out among graying fellow politicians, but they harness it as their strongest selling point.

“Young people don’t want to sit around and debate anymore,” Ista says. “They want to get out and protest, start petitions – or run.”

The latest crop of college-age politicians has already signed on to state legislative and local races this election year.

Besides Ista, Democrats at their convention in Fargo a week ago endorsed the state House bids of Ben Vig, a 22-year-old farmer from rural Aneta, and Stuart Savelkoul, 24, of Dickinson. Across the river, 21-year-old Karl Struck of Mankato and former Laura Bush intern 22-year-old Austin Bleess of Long Prairie are seeking Republican nominations to the Minnesota Legislature, where members’ average age is 49.

In Bismarck, recent Dickinson State University graduate Ian Karvo, who turns 25 in June, sought the GOP green light to vie for Earl Pomeroy’s congressional seat, but pulled out in March.

And in Fargo, 22-year-old JJ Gordon is preparing to launch his bid for mayor.

Jim Danielson, Minnesota State University Moorhead political science professor, says that in recent years about half a dozen students sought his advice about running for office. He says this is a recent phenomenon.

No agency appears to keep track of candidate ages, but party veterans and academic experts say student political involvement has spiked since 2000.

Jim Fuglie, North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party chairman, says his generation of Vietnam War protesters gave way in the late ’80s and ’90s to “the generation that wasn’t paying attention. What I’m sensing now is people of college age are starting to engage again.”

Fuglie says College Democrats, virtually non-existent during the ’90s, is now a vibrant organization with chapters on almost every state campus. A March membership drive by College Republicans enlisted more than 200 on three campuses – Minot, Dickinson and Mayville – where the organization didn’t have a presence before.

What’s making elected offices increasingly alluring to candidates in their early 20s?

In spring 2004, Amy Warnke, then a Republican North Dakota House member, urged University of North Dakota student senator Stacey Horter to run for her Grand Forks seat. Horter parried the pitch, saying jokingly, “I thought you had to be 65 to run.”

Horter was graduating that year and on track to attend law school. Taking a two-year detour to Bismarck didn’t tempt her.

But the idea haunted her over the next two months. As a lobbyist for the North Dakota Student Association, Horter campaigned to ease tuition increases, which averaged 16 percent a year at her school.

“Higher education is one of the most crucial issues in my district, and I thought, ‘What a great way to be involved and have a hand in it,’ ” Horter says. She now serves on the House Education Committee and sponsored a bill that would have forced colleges to stick with a flat-rate rather than per-credit tuition plan.

Many college-age candidates enter politics eager to address tuition increases and student loan cuts, issues that directly affect them. But experts say there’s more to their sense of purpose.

Today’s polarized political landscape sucks young people into the clash of ideas more readily than the generation before the contested 2000 Bush-Gore standoff. In 2004, more people ages 18 to 24 voted than in any presidential election since 1972, though at a 47 percent turnout, they still were the least active age group on Election Day.

In the buildup to the last presidential election, everyone on campus seemed to have strong opinions on abortion, gay marriage, taxes and the Iraq war, says MSUM College Democrats Chairwoman Jolene Thorne. “I don’t think that’s a good thing for our country,” she says of the stark political divide, “but it woke a lot of young people up.”

At the same time, both parties seem to be more receptive to college-age candidates. Like Horter, Bismarck native and 2004 North Dakota House candidate Matt Maslowski – 19 at the time – was lured to the campaign trail by a party invitation, from then-DFL chairman Tom Dickson. Both young politicians say they wouldn’t have made the leap otherwise.

“I don’t think young people are apathetic,” says Horter. “It’s a matter of asking people to be involved and planting that seed.”

When Danielson advises would-be student officeholders, he warns them their chances are slim because of what he calls “anti-young person bias” on the part of voters who equate youth with inexperience.

In 2004, the year 24-year-old Democrat Andy Welti of Plainview became the youngest member of the Minnesota Legislature, four other twenty-something Democratic challengers lost.

To compound issues with credibility, student candidates also need to squeeze campaigning into their hectic schedules.

Besides his full-time load as a secondary education student, Ista puts in 20 hours a week working at West Fargo’s Faith Lutheran Church, 25 hours into his internship at Byron Dorgan’s Fargo office, 10 hours into his basketball coaching gig and about five hours into sleep each night. And if he doesn’t keep up with house chores, his mom threatens not to vote for him.

But instead of downplaying their youth to gain credibility, student politicians strive to make it work in their favor.

A 2003 study by Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics found today’s young leaders aren’t demographically much different from the older generation of decision-makers. Of the 814 elected officials younger than 35 in 48 states polled, almost 90 percent were male, 80 percent were Caucasian, and the great majority were middle or upper-middle class. Fifty percent identified themselves as Democrats and 41 percent as Republicans.

But college-age politicians say their unique vantage point gives them an edge over older colleagues.

If elected, MSUM student and Fargo Park Board candidate Ben Hanson would be the youngest among the board’s five members, all older than 40. “I don’t have the experience a 40- or 50-year-old would have,” says Hanson, 19. “What I have is the experience of using the parks.”

Hanson is an alum of the Fargo Trollwood Performing Arts School video production program and loves to bike down park trails. On his platform: more park events steering youth away from drinking (inspired by his own recent experience as a restless high schooler) and advance notice on mosquito spraying (inspired by a chat with the mom of an asthmatic toddler).

A forte of youthful candidates is their idealism, says Elizabeth Beaumont, a University of Minnesota political science professor in charge of the Carnegie Foundation’s Political Engagement Project targeting college youth.

“On the one hand, they’re young, naļve, politically inexperienced. The double edge of this is that they aren’t cynical yet. They’re not owned by anyone yet.”

And in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, younger candidates might be an easier sell to newly skeptical voters.

Instead of using his spring break to schmooze with fellow politicians, Ista regaled nursing home residents in Madison, Wis., and spruced up a rundown YMCA in Chicago as part of a weeklong student community action trip. “With my age come fresh ideas and fresh experience,” he says.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Mila Koumpilova at (701) 241-5529

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If you live in these districts, go vote for these young people in November! They are proof positive...students are far from apathetic!