Next Gen Dem

With so many millennials beginning to engage in politics for the first-time, it is important to figure out how to channel that energy into political donations. Millennial under-engagement has been a major problem in the past, but Jake Mikva may have found a way to effectively engage young professionals and motivate them to give with his startup GoodWerk. GoodWerk is a PAC that mixes civics, digital media and political giving into a format that encourages young people to get more involved in...

Jessica Alter has been starting and growing some of Silicon Valley's most impressive companies for her entire career, but her latest endeavor, Tech for Campaigns, is her most important startup yet. What started as a simple Google Doc shared among her friends and colleagues in the tech world to see who was interested in providing tech expertise to Democratic campaigns following the election of Donald Trump has since morphed into a full-fledged organization with an army of volunteer digital...

In just a few short years, Eric Lesser went from organizing students at Harvard to having a desk 50 feet away from the Oval Office which was a political education he is now putting to good use in the Massachusetts State Legislature, where he serves as a state Senator representing nine municipalities in the Springfield area. On episode 12 of Next Gen Dem, Eric and I discuss his first foray into politics in high school, his proudest White House achievement (which also may have been his most...

If anyone can rise to the challenge of running for Congress for the first time in a deep-red Ohio district, it’s former Navy pilot Ken Harbaugh. Despite the fact that most of Ken’s neighbors voted for Trump, and even his own parents did as well, he is confident he has a message that will resonate – his commitment to putting service above self. On Episode 11 of Next Gen Dem, Ken and I discuss how his military service has made him uniquely qualified to bridge the divide in politics, the...

Most people are still in their first job at the age of 25, figuring out what they want to do with their lives. P.G. Sittenfeld, however, decided that was the perfect age to begin running for elected office, and he has become a rising Democratic star in the years that have followed, eventually becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Cincinnati City Council and a candidate for Ohio’s U.S. Senate Seat. In episode 10 of Next Gen Dem, P.G. and I cover a wide range of topics, including...