Will Gen Z Hand Democrats a ‘Blue Wave’ in the Midterms?

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Jack Dozier (0:34)

If a candidate wants to be successful with the youngest generation, they have to make an appeal directly to the youngest generation, to Gen Z, who just feel a sense of apathy or even potentially political homelessness.

Manny Rutinell (0:50)

I'm someone who experiences the struggles of young people because I am one. I come from a working class background, and I've worked at McDonald's, I've sold my blood at a plasma center. I'm one of the few renters that has ever become a Colorado legislator.

Pierre Bienaimé (1:06)

Manny Rutinell is the Democratic candidate for Colorado's 8th congressional district. He's in a tight race with sitting Republican representative Gabe Evans. And this district, which includes suburbs north of Denver, is younger than most. Census data show the median age is under 36, that compares to a national median just under 40

Rutinell himself is 31, and he says that helps him reach Gen Z voters where they are, online.

SPEAKER_1 (1:30)

What's your go-to karaoke song?

Manny Rutinell (1:32)

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash.

Rachel Janfaza (1:34)

Ooh, why do you care so much about Medicaid?

Manny Rutinell (1:37)

I was raised on Medicaid. It's deeply personal for me.

Pierre Bienaimé (1:39)

That's from a video posted on Rutinell's Instagram account, where he has over half a million followers. On TikTok, he has a more modest but still pretty good 115,000.

Manny Rutinell (1:49)

I was raised on these platforms. I grew up watching Instagram, and so I sort of know how to connect with that sort of audience, and I'm able to use that to get our message out there.

Pierre Bienaimé (2:03)

Rutinell's opponent, Gabe Evans, told me he's trying to reach those same young voters.

Gabe Evans (2:08)

My campaign basically is Gen Z. My campaign manager is Gen Z. My comms director is Gen Z.

Like, pretty much my entire campaign is staffed by Gen Z folks. And so, really letting them help take the lead in how they want to carry that message to their peers.

Pierre Bienaimé (2:26)

According to the Reuters Institute, most young Gen Zers, those between the ages of 18 and 24, get their news primarily on social media. That's one young voter told me.

Sabrina Rodriguez (2:36)

I hate to say it, but TikTok is definitely, like, my main source of news.

Pierre Bienaimé (2:40)

Of course, Rutinell isn't bringing news to his followers. He's asking for their vote. In the presidential election two years ago, Democrats nearly lost the under 30 vote. With midterm elections right around the corner, can the party reclaim America's youngest voters with the kinds of margins they have in the past? And can they do it without turning off others?

It's Sunday, October 18th. I'm Pierre Bienaimé for the Wall Street Journal. This is What's News Sunday, and today we bring you part two of our special series on the youth vote, Looking at the Democrats.

Joining me now to discuss all this are two of my colleagues here in Washington, politics reporters, Sabrina Rodriguez and Maya Davis.

So first things first, I'm 38, but am I talking to two Gen Zers or no?

Sabrina Rodriguez (3:23)

You're talking to a millennial.

Pierre Bienaimé (3:24)

And?

Maya Davis (3:25)

Proud member.

Aaron Zittner (3:26)

Proud member of Gen Z.

Pierre Bienaimé (3:27)

Okay, great. So yeah, you'll represent all 50 million of the possible voters.

Maya Davis (3:31)

Oh my God, it's a lot of pressure.

Pierre Bienaimé (3:32)

Who are Gen Z. Well, I'd like to ask you about the Democratic Party's messaging first, and then we can talk about policy and issues.

Two years ago, President Trump's victory was in part chalked up to his broad media strategy. He went on all kinds of non-mainstream podcasts that have younger audiences. One of the big things a lot of Democrats were talking about was how to navigate media like that themselves. Sabrina, what do you think? Have they been moving in that direction?

Sabrina Rodriguez (3:54)

There's definitely been a concerted effort.

There were a lot of questions for Democrats about what exactly they had missed. In particular, Democrats have always prided themselves on being part of the culture, and having Hollywood on their side, and having the celebrity endorsements, kind of understanding social media in a way that Republicans had not. But Trump sort of flipped the script on that. And I think Democrats have spent much of the past two years really trying to pick up the pace. I think one of the challenges is how do you do that authentically? People who understand how social media works certainly helps come across like you get it, instead of you had a staff member that made you do a video and you have no idea what the trend is that you're doing. And that's where you have candidates like Manny Rutinell who are really trying to just actually show up as themselves on social media and like build a presence, speaking to people's concerns without sort of pandering to young people.