Nevada's Young Democrats on mission to be seen and heard

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

The Young Democrats of Nevada’s newly elected executive board hosted a community outreach event at the East Las Vegas Community Center, strategically located in the heart of the city’s vibrant Latino community.

They weren’t there to preach to voters in an off-election year. Rather, the group focused on direct community support.

After a quick lesson from Nevada ACLU Executive Director Athar Haseebullah, a small group fanned out through the neighborhood to visit local businesses to encourage owners to display informational posters about immigration in their employee break rooms.

This grassroots approach reflects the organization’s broader priorities, according to Sierra Hernandez, the group’s president. With President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies looming, immigration has become a central focus for the Young Dems, particularly given that many members have personal ties to Las Vegas’ immigrant communities.

Hernandez emphasized that this won’t be a one-time effort — the organization plans to host similar community-centered events throughout the year.

Young Dems of America is the country’s largest youth-driven partisan political organization, boasting a membership of more than 20,000 young people nationally. It is for individuals under age 36.

“We’re doing the best we can to meet our community where they’re at. Now, more than ever, there’s a lot of confusion, a lot of distress, a lot of mistrust,” Hernandez said. “We want to be able to provide them those resources to empower them.”

Last week, a cohort of local Young Dems traveled to Philadelphia for the group’s national convention.

They have their work cut out for them. Over half of the party’s voters disapprove of currrent congressional Democrats’ work, according to a Quinnipiac poll, and young men shifted to the right last year.

The local chapter’s new leadership wants a simplified message focused on affordability, among other top concerns.

“We are here for the purposes of building inclusive spaces,” Hernandez said. “We will not be one to chastise or turn away young voters who at one point in time might have been frustrated, but rather give them an opportunity to understand what is currently in front of us.”

Hernandez said the organization is confident that young voters, regardless of their affiliations, are supportive of women’s reproductive rights, affordable housing and improved financial aid for higher education.

While Democratic leadership has previously portrayed Trump as an aberration from typical politics, that argument is a hard sell for Gen Z. Angelyn Tabalba, the local chapter’s executive director, notes that 2024’s youngest voters have seen Trump on the ballot since elementary school.

This generation “can’t attain good-paying jobs even with a college degree, has always talked about how harmful the climate crisis is,” Tabalba said. “Living through things like the pandemic … it’s of course frustrating for young people” when “both parties haven’t always been susceptible to change.”

“There’s no question,” she said. “People just want to see something different.”

And the organization does have the ear of powerful Democrats in the state. Hernandez worked in the office of Assemblymember Daniele Monroe Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, over the previous session. Multiple other executive board members also served as attachès in Carson City, Tabalba said.

Putting young people in power is the best way older leaders and incumbent Democrats can show they trust them, she added.

“They really do acknowledge the role that Young Dems has played,” Hernandez said. “It’s pretty remarkable to have lawmakers come to us long before the election cycle. And this isn’t new to us. Previous leadership has been very intentional with maintaining good relationships.”

The relationship is mutually beneficial.

The local chapter gets to organize around concerns brought up by its membership and community while older Democrats get a peek into how Gen Z and younger millennials interact with politics.

That doesn’t mean leadership is totally off the hook. Tabalba said the group lets legislators know when it’s proud of their work and “when we’re not so proud.” The organization wants to continue to be “at the table,” she said.

“When we win, we’ve got to be loud about it,” Tabalba said. “We’ve also got to be loud when Republicans are taking things away from families, whether it’s Medicaid, whether it’s SNAP. Maybe these things are not going to hit families immediately, but we need to let them know that these things are coming.”

[email protected] / 702-990-8923 / @Kyle_Chouinard