Here’s a story from Wiretap magazine about the strategies (and lack of) behind luring the youth vote. This talks about the Harvard report that our teen columnist Jessica Kinnison wrote about in the last issue. Not surprisingly, the writers find that “Generation Dean” is the only presidential campaign figuring out how to tap into young voters–and that is genuinely trying to increase turnout. They write: “What Generation Dean has figured out is that young people want to feel powerful. Young progressives are disgusted with Bush, and at this stage of the game, with no campaign announcement from Ralph Nader or any other third-party candidate, the Democratic Party is the only alternative. Dean, sensing the discontent of young partisans, said in one campaign speech, ‘If you want young people to vote in this country, we had better stand for something, because that is why they’re not voting.’” Mississippi candidates would do well to heed this advice.
Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.
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