Young Democrats have asked for a brand change. They are competing for replacing the old party guard: Las Vegas Sun News

Phoenix-Deja Foxx celebrated his April birthday in a way that most 25-year-old do not do so. The extra candle meant that it was now eligible to represent Arizona in Congress, and Foxx marked the occasion with a fundraising.

She is part of a large group of young Democratic candidates, many running to replace the older headlines, who have worried that their turn will take their party to return to power.

After an overwhelming electoral loss of 2024, they say that the party desperately needs a brand change, and young leaders should direct it.

On Tuesday in southern Arizona, Foxx is one of several Democrats who hopes to enter a deep blue seat that is vacant by the death of the representative Raúl Grijalva, an agent of political power for a long time in Tucson. It had become one of the most important legislators in Capitol Hill for two decades in Congress. Grijalva's daughter, Adelita, is one of the contestants, and three Republicans compete in the Republican primaries.

But the impulse for younger leaders will not end there. In the mid -period elections next year, the main challengers have already begun to emerge in states such as California and Indiana that will provide democratic voters options between younger legislators and candidates.

In Georgia, for example, the legacy of decades of 80 -year -old Democratic representative David Scott could end a primary one that is expected to join. This has attracted the challengers fed up with their refusal to take aside despite years of concern for their health in decline and rare public appearances. The primary was filled almost a year after former President Joe Biden left the 2024 electoral career in the middle of a scrutiny similar to his age.

Challenging and well -connected candidates can be discouraging, but progressive leaders say the moment requires urgency.

“The death of the torch implies that the leaders are delivering it,” said Amanda Litman, director of a group called Run for something that reinforces young progressive candidates. “What we are seeing at this time is that the new generation is taking the torch. They are not waiting for it to happen.”

Online campaign

Many Boomer and Gen Z candidates have largely abandoned the traditional play book to spend millions on television ads in favor of Tiktok and social networks. But it is a pivot that the oldest political hands would recognize an older play book: meet the voters where they are.

Foxx, a digital strategist, directed the influencers strategy for the presidential campaign offer of Kamala Harris in 2020. In Tiktok, she speaks with almost 400,000 followers, saying that she would be the first woman of “our” generation chosen for Congress. In 2022, Florida voters chose the first congressman of the generation: Democratic representative Maxwell Frost. The Caucus PAC of the Progressive Congress, which Frost, co -chants, has supported Adelita Grijalva.

Foxx has inclined to the popular Internet jargon of generation Z in the brand of its “Chosout or Congress” district tour.

“Does news make you feel that you are about to crash? Be honest,” Foxx published.

Foxx said his campaign gave a corner after a main debate at the end of May, when some clips of his performance attracted millions and helped to cause an impulse to collection of funds.

If Scott looks for another mandate in his suburban district in Atlanta, he will face several candidates in the Democratic primaries next May, including the Microbiologist and state representative Jasmine Clark, 42; state senator Emanuel Jones, 66; and Everton Blair, 33, former president of the largest school district. The Scott campaign did not respond to the requests of an interview.

Clark accumulated 7,000 Tiktok followers after a popular influential published again. From time to time it appears with solutions to the problems of people in Nextdoor is already recognized as a podcast host instead of a state representative. She says that Republicans have done a better job by saturating social networks with their messages.

“Instead of looking at the Republicans and moving our fingers towards them, we could take some lessons from them,” he said.

Message or messenger?

Voters have been crushed by high costs, Clark said, but the Republicans, not the Democrats, have been the ones who realize people that their pain is real, although the Democrats have better ideas to fix things.

Blair agreed that the Democrats have better policy recipes to address the economic concerns of voters, but said that many legislators have long stifled the party's ability to convey that message. He said that President Donald Trump is gaining fattening of the billionaires, but deceiving the voters of low and medium income “out of the American dream.”

“We have a headline that is simply not doing the job, and we need a better fighter,” Blair said. “The bets are too high.”

Young people have grown in a political climate dominated by algorithms, said Akbar Ali, first vice president of the Democratic Party in Gwinnett County, home from some of Scott's districts. That gives them an incorporated understanding of how the information extends today, he said, but does not replace the scope on the ground to voters of all ages.

He said that Scott's physical absence is palpable, both in the community and in a voice in Congress.

“Many people are annoying at the national level because we cannot return the content with sufficient vigor,” he said.

Adelita Grijalva bears a family name in Tucson and is considered the first slide. Former state legislator Daniel Hernández, who is attributed to the life of Save Sur-US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords after an attempt to murder more than a decade ago, is also in the mixture of Democrats.

For Foxx, Grijalva benefits from his last name “legacy.”

Grijalva, who has received several endorsements, even from the United States Democratic representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the United States independent senator, Bernie Sanders, has delayed. She said she brings her own credentials to the table. Her father was progressive and anti -stating, and she said she is too.

But Foxx, who personally benefited from some government programs that the Trump administration has reduced or is looking to cut, said the Democrats must do more to reach new voters.

“We are bringing people to this party, to this democracy, which have been excluded, by young people and the people of the working class,” Foxx said.

A positive vision

In New York City, Zohran Mamdani, 33, recently won the mayor's career with an optimistic campaign that was largely supported by Tiktok and emphasized the search for new ways of making the city's life more affordable.

In an era in which so many young people doubt that they will once be better than their parents, they are increasingly willing to abandon pragmatism for bold policy platforms, said David Hogg.

Hogg was withdrawn from his leadership role with the National Democratic Committee, who said his election broke the rules of the party. His decision not to run again followed his impulse to overthrow the long -standing Democrats in safe seats of Congress. He has not moved away from his vote to the primary democrats of “bedroom in the wheel” with cooler faces.

People of all ages want a fighter who understands what is at stake, since Trump reduces Medicaid and other programs in which millions of Americans trust, Hogg said. That is why their Political Action Committee, leaders we deserve, supported Foxx.

Young voters were key to democratic victories in recent years, but some swing to the right when Trump obtained profits in 2024. Hogg said he is looking for candidates to “recover them” speaking of how change occurs.

Major candidates can also do that, he said, but for better or worse, young people are not yet “tired” by politics.

“In this dark moment, we need people who can provide us with a general sense of hope, as madness that can sometimes feel,” said Hogg. “Believing that perhaps things will not be as fucked as now forever.”