How Gen Z is creating winds of change through Congress

It’s hard to imagine change coming in a year when the two major political parties renominate their oldest presidential candidates and longtime members of Congress are up for re-election. For example, today’s parliament is one of the oldest in history, with an average age of 58 years.

But Congress is not immune to change, and change can sometimes occur slowly and sometimes shockingly.

In 1946, World War II veterans, including former Marines John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, sought seats in Congress and entered the Capitol a year later. Weary from battle, they rejected prewar isolationism and came to support a strong national defense and U.S. involvement in international affairs.

After Watergate, another group entered Congress determined to overturn old norms, particularly the venerable seniority system that had ousted three sitting conservative Southern Democrats from the speakership.

Pennsylvania Congressman Bob Edgar (D), an ordained Protestant minister, embodies the spirit of the so-called “Watergate Babies,” combining his religious moralism and reform-minded spirit with demands for transparency. applied to California Democratic Rep. George Miller, a member of the Class of ’74, recalls: “We came here to capture the Bastille. We turned on the lights and destroyed the facility.”

Following the controversial Clarence Thomas hearings, torn apart by scandalous accusations of sexual abuse, 1992 became the “Year of the Woman.” A record number of women were elected to Congress, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington).

Eventually, the number of women members increased to 126 in the House of Representatives and 25 in the Senate today. Over time, these congressional veterans have amassed power, as exemplified when Murray became the first female Senate president pro tempore with the title “Madam President” in 2023.

In 1994, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) led another revolution, with his supporters promising a vote to limit terms for members of Congress and give the president item-by-item veto powers. He was a signatory to the “Contract with America.” Enact tough laws against crime and establish work requirements for welfare recipients.

Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-Florida) was one of the Gingrich revolutionaries and became a symbol of their spirit. Gingrich Republicans, who saw themselves as citizen politicians who slept in their offices and rejected social life in Washington, D.C., pioneered the Tea Party and waged ideological warfare against similarly veteran Democrats. I was eager to set it up.

Now, with Zoomers born after 1997 entering the voting booth, new winds of change are blowing. In 2024, 41 million Zoomers will be eligible to vote.

Growing up in an era marked by gun violence and school lockdowns, Zoomer learned to hide in classroom closets. For many, the government has failed. Whether it’s gun violence, climate change, less isolationism due to the coronavirus pandemic, or easing the burden of exorbitant student debt, Zoomers are fed up. Currently, 58% believe that “we cannot solve the problems in this country until the older generation is no longer in power.”

Nowhere is the difference between the old guard and the zoomers more evident than in the upcoming Democratic primary in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.

April McClain Delaney, wife of former Congressman John Delaney (D-Md.), is running against Maryland Representative Joe Vogel. Delaney has the support of Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.) and has pitched herself as a “common sense”, establishment-minded candidate who can find “common ground” with Republicans. There is.

In an interview with me, Vogel criticized Delaney’s approach, describing her as “caught in the insider machine for a very long time.”

Vogel, who I voted for, is a typical Zoomer. Born in Uruguay in 1997, his parents and his grandparents fled South America’s military dictatorship to the United States. Like his fellow highly educated Zoomers, one in five of whom identify as LGBTQ, Vogel holds a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and is gay. Vogel, who just served one term in the Maryland General Assembly as the first Zoomer member, refused to wait his turn and declared his candidacy for Congress in 2023.

Vogel is motivated by the sense of crisis that characterizes his generation, as he is “tired of the epidemic of gun violence” plaguing his generation and “afraid of what the climate crisis will mean for our future.” He explained to me that he was running for office. He believes “threats to our democracy” must be addressed immediately, but doesn’t feel Delaney shares “that sense of urgency.”

Conservative pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson observes that Zoomers’ preoccupation with gun violence, climate change and economic inequality has led to a shift from seeking compromise to “disruption.” are doing.[ing] It is a system that allows the other side to have an advantage. ”

Mr. Vogel embodies Mr. Anderson’s analysis, telling me that if elected, “I’m not going to go to Congress with the desire to compromise in the first place,” and that “the willingness to compromise is what got us here.” he added. In return, he pledged to fight for the PRO Act, which protects unions’ right to organize, and the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. He also vows to push for a ban on assault weapons and protect abortion rights.

It’s too early to predict the outcome, but this race is worth watching. Mr. Vogel has the following endorsements: Member of Parliament, including Sen. Cory Booker (D.J.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a veteran member of the Jan. 6 House committee. Win or lose, Vogel represents a generational shift that will ultimately transform politics.

It’s unclear whether that will happen in 2024. But what is clear is that the winds of change are blowing, and Congress will soon feel the effects. It is better to batten the hatch.

John Kenneth White is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at The Catholic University of America. His most recent book is “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republic Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.” He can be reached at his johnkennethwhite.com.