by Stevaughn Bush · April 28, 2014 3:28 PM

Welcome to our ongoing interview series highlighting young elected officials and young candidates. This month we spoke with Saatvik Ahluwalia, a 24-year-old American of Indian descent who recently ran for Board Selectman in his native Lexington, Massachusetts.

Saatvik first ran for the office at the age of 22, for town meeting legislature in Lexington. With a vision for a more efficient local government, Saatvik won election despite not having any political connections at the time. “I was curious to learn more about my town and to see where there might be inefficiencies in local government that can be worked on, how we can create more transparency, and better lines of communication between citizens and their elected officials,” Saatvik said.

Despite this criticism, Saatvik believed he had experience and ideas to contribute to government.  “Young people are given 1,000 excuses not to run for office, ‘you need to get more experience’, etc.” he says. “But if you’re truly passionate about it then you don’t have to wait. Get the signatures, raise the money—even knock on doors because that will show that you care.”

Although Saatvik lost his election, the people of Lexington definitely took notice of his candidacy. “Even though I didn’t win the first time around people really appreciated the fact that I went ahead and did the hard work,” he said. Indeed, Saatvik’s campaign and ideas continued to generate excitement. Shortly after the election, he was even featured in the Boston Globe. “I did achieve showing people the town is changing,” Ahluwalia said. “The new town is ready to get involved.”

by Colin Koffel · April 25, 2014 4:39 PM

LaunchProgress Co-Founder Poy Winichakul joined Madison Kimrey, an amazing twelve-year-old political activist, on HuffPost Live today. Both Poy and Madison talked about their own early involvement in politics and emphasized how important young voices are to the future of our nation.

Madison asked Poy what young people can do to get candidates to focus on what matters to young people. Poy’s helpful advice:

• Write and speak out—online, in letters to the editor, etc.—about issues that matter to us
• Get involved in campaigns
• Involve your friends

We’re looking forward to the future when people like Madison take over.

by Stevaughn Bush · April 11, 2014 3:07 PM

Welcome to our ongoing interview series highlighting young elected officials and young candidates. This month we spoke with 30-year old Stephanie Chang, who is running for state representative of Michigan’s 6^th district. If elected, Stephanie would be the first Asian American woman in history of Michigan’s state legislature.

This is Stephanie’s first time running for office. As a young organizer, Stephanie worked on a number of civil rights and other social issues where she showed her commitment to her community.

Although Stephanie’s community was excited about the prospect of her running (even current state representative of the district, Rashida Tlaib, tapped her as the ideal candidate to run for the seat), Stephanie was initially unsure of it all. “It took me 6 months to decide because running for state representative wasn’t something in my planned career path.” Ultimately, however, Stephanie was motivated by her community and by her own desire to make a difference. “After one-on-one conversations with friends and community leaders, I realized that it would be an amazing opportunity to be a progressive voice in the Michigan state legislature and use the experience I have as a coalition builder working with both sides of the aisle and as an organizer….And, there’s a bigger picture that keeps me motivated—thinking about the future I want for my future children, like making sure we have a good education system, and a fair justice system,” Stephanie adds.

Stephanie, who is currently attending graduate school full-time and working part-time in addition to campaigning, says her biggest challenge so far is balancing her time. But she manages to counter it with a strong sense of purpose and an indefatigable spirit. “It can be a lot in terms of juggling a lot of different responsibilities,” she says “but the biggest thing to remember is why I’m doing this and who I’m doing it for.”

When asked if he had any words of wisdom to impart to others under 35 who were considering running for office, Stephanie emphasized finding a good mentor and engaging in some soul-searching before reaching a decision to run for office. “Have conversations with people close to you…to really think through your strengths and weaknesses and to really be sure this is something you want to do. Also, it’s really important to find yourself a great mentor. I’ve been lucky to have a lot of great mentors, like Rashida Tlaib, and that’s been very helpful.”

“Have a strong reason for wanting to run,” Stephanie goes on, “because that’s what will keep you going day in and day out”.