Juliana Bennett (she/her), is running for Wisconsin State assembly. A Black pansexual Gen-Z woman, Juliana is heavily keyed in to her hometown of Madison, the capital city, as a former member of the city council, with experience in expanding housing. She is passionate about defending protesters, getting ICE out of Wisconsin, and sustaining immigrant communities across the state.
Read MoreIn Arizona, Brendan Trachsel (he/him/his) is running on the Green Party ticket for one of two seats that makes up the Arizona House of Representatives’ 6th District. This young activist and Quaker is running to be the first Gen Z elected official at the state level in Arizona. Brendan is passionate about securing abortion access in the state, fighting against Flock cameras, and increasing Arizona’s access to higher education.
Read MoreOne of Topeka’s state representatives, Alexis Simmons (she/her), is an agnostic, bisexual Democrat. Born at the end of the millennial generation, she identifies as a “childless cat lady” and is a government professor at Washburn University. What drove Alexis to teach government was a belief that people should feel empowered to engage with government, and not be intimidated by the complexity of it. Alexis is passionate about defending the US Constitution from attacks on freedom of speech, freedom to worship freely (or to not worship not at all), and basic privacy.
Read MoreKentucky is known as a very conservative state, but we discovered two years ago that even progressives represent constituencies in so-called “red” states! Most conservative states have cities that are heavily progressive, particularly the largest city in each state. In Kentucky, that city is Louisville. Sarah Stalker (she/her), is a representative from Louisville to the Kentucky House of Representatives. First elected in 2022, she won re-election in 2024 and is running again in 2026. Sarah believes in putting the environment and the working class over profits and capital gains, to the point that she encourages mutual aid, trading and bartering, and thrifting as much as possible for environmental reasons, cost effectiveness and to avoid participating in capitalism. She is also a huge proponent of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.
Read MoreLuckily, a crop of progressive women are challenging the status quo in Texas. One such candidate is Diana Loya (she/her), a Latina millennial educator and mother in the rural Texas Panhandle. As a public school teacher, education is one of the foundations of her campaign, along with a level economic playing field, where government supports the needs of the working class, and not the 1%, and where taxpayer dollars go towards building infrastructure that benefits the people, and not right back into billionaires’ pockets.
Read MoreNew Mexico is a state of wide open spaces, but most people in the state live in and around the largest city, Albuquerque. In the small section of city that encompasses La Mesa, Trumbull Village, and the International District, Janelle Anyanonu (she/her) has been the state representative for the past three and a half years. A former member of the New Mexico Black Central Organizing Committee, Janelle is descended from Nigerian immigrants and has spent her whole life in the state. During her first term in the House, this millennial Burqueña was one of five sponsors of legislation to protect abortion rights and gender-affirming care in New Mexico; the law passed and became the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Freedom Act, ensuring access to healthcare denied to millions of others in many of the surrounding states. Janelle sings in the choir of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Albuquerque and is an avid embroiderer of blackwork and cross-stitch projects.
Read MoreAmanda Gonzalez (she/her), is running for Colorado Secretary of State this year. A bisexual millennial attorney, she is currently the Clerk and Recorder for Jefferson County, Colorado. Amanda is a member of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, Colorado Women's Bar Association, and Colorado LGBTQ+ Bar Association. She is running to protect every Coloradan’s vote from interference, expand voting rights, and keep Colorado’s election system secure.
Read MoreThe group Justice Democrats is a progressive campaign finance reform organization that endorses candidates who refuse to accept donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists. This year, they are primarily running in states like New York, California, and Illinois, but one endorsed candidate is running in Colorado: Melat Kiros (she/her), a Gen Z former attorney. Melat was born in Ethiopia and immigrated with her family to the United States at the start of the Ethiopian-Eritrean War. In the middle of this campaign for US Congress, she is also working on a PhD in Public Affairs. A one-time barista who worried about making rent, Melat has first-hand experience as a working-class woman and brings that experience to her campaign, which is centered on Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, getting big money out of politics, housing as a human right, and holding AI companies accountable before they eliminate entire workforces without a safety net.
Read MoreStanford Fraser (he/him), a Black millennial public defender. A graduate of Howard University in Washington, DC and Harvard Law School, Stanford is a die-hard Game of Thrones fan and Pokemon card collector. He has testified to the state government regarding legislation to ban no-knock warrants, require body cameras for police, and decriminalize drug possession. A former Amnesty International volunteer, he organized area college students and led protests to abolish Maryland’s death penalty, which Maryland did that same year. Today, Stanford’s platform rests on the pillars of criminal justice reform, overhauling healthcare, and lowering utility bills for Prince George’s residents.
Read MoreRaaheela Ahmed (she/her) is a millennial South Asian woman who is the former president of the Prince George’s County Board of Education. Raaheela formerly served as the Student Regent on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, representing more than 150,000 students across 12 public universities. Raaheela is a badass: she got her motorcycle license while in high school and played rugby for three years during college. Yet she also loves being near bodies of water and aims to visit every US National Park in her lifetime. A democratic socialist, this lover of cheesecake is basing her campaign around strengthening public schools, expanding access to affordable healthcare and housing, and protecting working families.
Read MoreNew York’s progressives are not all concentrated in the city. They exist all over the state, particularly in upstate New York cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Ithaca, and Binghamton. Dan Livingston (he/him), a millennial former city councilmember, dropped out of college during the Iraq War in the early 2000s and hitchhiked across America and Canada for two years. Dan’s despair over the war turned to resolve, and he returned to college and became politically active. He founded a Habitat for Humanity chapter, organized relief trips to hurricane-hit Louisiana and Mississippi, and worked for several organizations which provided meals to the hungry. In later years he protested at the Occupy Wall Street and Standing Rock protests.
On the Binghamton city council, Dan advocated for collective bargaining rights, creating apprenticeship programs in public schools to encourage young people to go into the trades, and he successfully fought back against a privatization scheme at a wastewater treatment plant, keeping the workers there unionized. Today, his platform is fourfold: taxing the rich, providing clean water for all, ensuring affordable housing, and protecting immigrants from ICE. Dan is running on the Working Families Party ticket, and he has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders.
Read MoreEvan Smith (he/him) is a Gen Z democratic socialist candidate running from southern Maryland running for Delegate. He is the communications director of the Young Democrats of Southern Maryland. A former D2 track athlete, Evan is primarily focusing on public transit and the affordability crisis in his campaign. Should he be elected, he will be the youngest delegate and the only one born in the 21st Century.
Read MoreEricka Kopp (she/her), is a multi-racial (Black, Hispanic, and white) bisexual millennial attorney in suburban Richmond. Ericka has worked in the Richmond Public Defender’s Office and Wrongful Convictions Clinic, getting a wrongfully imprisoned man released. A 2026 Courage Candidate, this ice hockey player is centering her campaign on free universal healthcare (Medicare for All) and free public education from pre-K through post-secondary schooling.
Read MoreYuh-Line Niou (she/her), is a former New York Assemblywoman who is currently running for State Senate. This queer millennial was the first openly autistic representative in the New York State legislature. Born in Taiwan, she is an anti-poverty advocate and activist who has fought predatory lending and red-lining in New York’s neighborhoods. Yuh-Line has taken progressive stances on many issues, including Medicare for All, Taxing the Rich, the Green New Deal, and Abolishing ICE.
Read MoreAmaris Dordar (she/her) is a younger millennial and Chicana mujer. Born at the very tail end of the millennial generation, she is a first-generation college graduate, having gone to Yale for her Bachelor’s and Harvard for her Master’s. Amaris is an attorney who speaks multiple languages, including Spanish (fluently), as well as Mandarin, Hindi, and Tibetan. A lover of yoga and hiking, she passionate about affordable housing, environmental sustainability, wildfire prevention, LGBTQ+ equality, expanding access to healthcare and mental health services, and creating economic opportunities for working families and small business owners. Exploring Los Angeles’ diverse cultural communities has focused Amaris on practical, community-centered solutions to homelessness and climate resilience across Los Angeles County.
Read MoreAfter eight years, there is a wholesale changing of state government in California this year. Both the governor and lieutenant governor positions are open, and there is a large group of candidates for both offices. Today we are interviewing Janelle Kellman (she/her), a gay woman who is the former mayor of Sausalito. She is an environmental attorney and the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Sea Rise Solutions. A passionate climate justice warrior, Janelle points out that the Lieutenant Governor sits on the State Lands Commission and the Coastal Commission. The lieutenant governor also sits on the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees, and the Commission for Economic Development. Through these positions, Janelle plans to use the power of the office to to advance climate resilience, public education, housing, good jobs, and a more equitable economy.
Read MoreThis cycle, we are profiling another candidate, Angela Gonzalez-Torres (she/her), a Chicana millennial and community organizer in Los Angeles. She is running in the Congressional district that represents both Downtown and East Los Angeles. After time working on the Highland Park Neighborhood Council, Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee, and in the LA Mayor’s office, this district native is now running a grassroots, student-led, community-informed campaign to face the challenges of the highest costs of incarceration, the dirtiest air in Los Angeles County, and the largest number of eviction notices in the city. Angela’s top campaign issues include housing for all, economic dignity and security, healthcare for all, climate action, education and youth empowerment, immigration reform and community advocacy, and a pro-peace foreign policy.
Read MoreIn the 2024 presidential election, South Texas (particularly the Rio Grande Valley), voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, after over 100 years of voting solidly Democratic. The reasons were myriad: overwhelming inflation and a sputtering local economy, Trump’s machismo appealed to young male voters in the region, and widespread exhaustion with decades of illegal immigration. Well, we see what Trump’s presidency has wrought: increasing inflation and a sputtering local economy, a deranged machismo bordering on reckless insanity, and the wholesale deportation of both undocumented and documented immigrants alike (as well as several US citizens) from the Rio Grande Valley.
Esmeralda Cantu-Castle (she/her) is running to change all that. Esmi was first encouraged to run for political office in the aftermath of the brutal murder of her daughter, a Navy Seaman, last year, by a fellow sailor who kept her body for four days before dumping it in the woods behind an elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia. Esmi is passionate about supporting others, particularly workers, families, and veterans. This millennial mom is running to ensure that women in her district are afforded access to contraception and reproductive healthcare. Dismayed at how Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation has willfully polluted South Texas, she is also running on a strong environmental platform that protects both the land and water of the Rio Grande Valley.
Read MoreWe are pleased that this cycle, there are so many young progressive women running for elected office in the Indiana legislature (we have profiled several so far)! This week we are adding Kirsten Root (she/her) to that number. A bisexual Gen-Z social worker, Kirsten wants to restore trust and humanity to government. The values that guide her are service, partnerships, integrity, dignity, competence, and social justice. Kirsten’s platform includes universal healthcare, legalization of marijuana, empowering and protecting marginalized communities, strengthening labor unions, and focusing on prevention and rehabilitation over punitive treatment.
Read MoreDue to the large number of retirements this year, a lot of seats are opening up. Some are quitting politics for good, while others are launching campaigns for other elected office. In Michigan’s 18th District, State Representative Jason Hoskins, the incumbent, is giving up his seat to run for Michigan State Senate. Into this vacancy stepped millennial Mykale (Kelly) Garrett (she/her). Kelly is being endorsed in her race by US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic Socialist who defeated a primary challenge from Kelly in 2022. As mayor of Lathrup Village, she advanced key initiatives focused on public safety, infrastructure, and community engagement. Kelly credits her Christian faith with shaping her views on protecting women’s rights (including reproductive and voting), protecting trans individuals from violence and discrimination, and ensuring that all children have access to quality education.
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