Gen Zers and millennials are leading state parties across the country

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On the trail, Anderson Clayton spent a lot of time answering questions. How are you going to work? What does your financial situation look like? How are you actually going to do this?

“I don’t think a lot of other people got those same types of questions, and I think my age had a lot to do with that, honestly,” the newly elected 25-year-old chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party said. “I always knew that from the beginning because I’ve been a young person within the party structure. I think that any young person within this structure knows that in order to be young and try to do something, you have to be five to 10 times better than anybody else.”

Gen Zers and millennials are leading state parties across the country. Some have just stepped into the role for the first time, while others have been reelected to the post. It comes as both parties evaluate how they did — or didn’t — court young voters last cycle, and as they work on attracting them ahead of the presidential election.

“I don’t think power is willingly given, and so there does have to be an incentive for that to happen,” said Layla Zaidane, CEO and president of Millennial Action Project, a group that supports young elected officials. “Matching the face and priorities of the party to what is a new generation of voters and people in this country, I think that’s the politically wise thing to be doing. And I think that’s probably why you see a lot of these shifts happening.”

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