The future is theirs, not ours
GenZ candidates like Cameron Costa are staking their claim to America's future
On June 24th, Uvalde Texas high school seniors sat in 100+ degree temperatures in front of 21 placards reading Uvalde Strong. School officials praised the strength of Uvalde graduates for surviving COVID and the trauma of recent losses, the years-long separation from friends over the better part of their high school years, and uncertainty over what the future looks like for them.
No doubt also in the back of everyone's mind were climate change, the gloomy economic prospects for a generation already saddled with unprecedented levels of student debt, and the dismal prospect that American democracy will survive.
Today NPR featured an article about GenZ candidates for Congress: "The first Gen Z candidates are running for Congress — and running against compromise." This is a generation tired of the inaction, vacillation, and empty promises of "pragmatic" liberals. According to a Pew Research Center report, GenZ are hardly radicals but they also aren't waiting for a Democratic gerontocracy to address their concerns — critical issues ranging from gun control, housing, student debt, racism, immigration, healthcare, climate change — as well as civil, human and voting rights.
This is a generation that sees itself on the brink of disaster and has staked its own claim on America's future. And after all, the future is theirs, not ours.
Here in Massachusetts, Cameron Costa is running for a 9th Bristol District House seat. Throwing his hat in the ring is no mere vanity project. Like the GenZ Congressional candidates NPR profiled, Costa's views on abortion rights, housing, immigration, police, and term limits differ considerably from the incumbent he is challenging. If our generation won't address the issues — and we haven’t — theirs will at least try to.
Having had the opportunity to interview Costa and subsequently canvass with him, I am impressed. Costa has ideas, energy, and the will to make things happen on Beacon Hill. He has taken the time to hold talks with voters on a variety of issues in the district, from farming and fishing to Superfund remediation. Costa has done his homework on the issues. All he lacks now is money.
Pushing back on concerns about young candidates, Ray Reed, a GenZ candidate in Missouri's 2nd Congressional district, says: "I think the real risk is to nominate the same type of Democratic candidates election after election after election and somehow expect a different result."
To this Costa adds one more reason to yield our future to a new generation: "It will be good to have someone in the seat who doesn't owe anyone anything."
The future is his generation’s, not ours.
Vote for Cameron Costa for 9th Bristol (MA) District Representative in the September 6th Democratic primary. And for anyone who wants to donate to Cameron Costa's campaign, he is holding a campaign event on Saturday, July 23rd. You can buy tickets for this event — or simply donate to his campaign.