Editor’s note: This is part of a series on how young people are likely to influence the upcoming election — either at the polls or in office. This story looks at the four Generation Z candidates on the state’s ballot.

Four Generation Z candidates looking to shake up the Georgia Statehouse are up against a host of well-established challengers as the state rounds the corner to the Nov. 5 general election.

Ashwin Ramaswami, a 25-year-old Johns Creek election security expert who worked in both the Trump and Biden administrations, put it simply: “Someone has to stand up to him” — the “him” being Ramaswami’s opponent, Sen. Shawn Still, R-Norcross. Still was one of 18 people indicted along with former President Donald Trump in Fulton County last year for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Still did not respond to State Affairs’ repeated requests for comment for this story. 

Ramaswami cut his teeth in election security while working for the federal government during the 2020 election. His front row seat to what he describes as disinformation that dogged the election process propelled him to run for state office.

Securing a seat in the Georgia State Capitol is a big job for Ramaswami and his fellow Gen Z candidates, who include Atlanta middle school teacher Bryce Berry, 23; community organizer Gabriel Sanchez, 27; and Madeline Ryan Smith, a 27-year-old Statesboro entrepreneur. All are Democrats. 

No known Gen Z Republican candidates are on the November ballot, according to officials with several GOP organizations in Georgia. 

Candidates must be at least 21 years old to serve in the state House and 25 years old to serve in the state Senate.

If elected, the Gen Z candidates said they’ll push for more affordable housing; definitive gun safety laws; better access to health care, including reproductive rights; Medicaid expansion; and stopping Georgia’s “brain drain.” They say the state is losing thousands of college graduates annually because they can’t afford to live in Georgia. 

To win the Statehouse jobs, the four Gen Zers must persuade their generation — 18-to-27-year-olds — to get out and vote. About 1.75 million registered voters in Georgia are between the ages of 18 and 29, according to state data.

“It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that the outcome of the election hinges on how well young voters are mobilized,” Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie told State Affairs.

Early voting opened in Georgia this week and voters between the ages of 18 and 29 lagged behind voters in other age groups. While more than 1 million Georgians voted in person or by mail this week, less than 10% — 92,922 —  of young voters had voted by Friday.

The candidates and officials with both major political parties have ramped up get-out-the vote efforts. Along with the usual door-knocking, debates, rallies and college campus appearances, Sanchez, Ryan Smith, Berry and Ramaswami are going after young voters where they live — by texting them on their phones.

“When we say, ‘Let’s phone bank,’ people are like, ‘Nah.’ But when you’re like, ‘Hey, let’s text bank,’ people are a lot more inclined to participate and more likely to respond,” Davante Jennings, the 28-year-old president of Young Democrats of Georgia, told State Affairs.

Entering the home stretch

With less than three weeks to go, the general election is too close to call in Georgia. 

The latest polls show Trump could flip the state after losing in 2020 to President Joe Biden, who won the White House by just under 12,000 Georgia votes due largely to the growing diversity in metro Atlanta suburbs.

A Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris by 6 points. A Cook Political Report survey shows Trump ahead by 2 points, while a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll shows the two candidates tied. Trump is favored to win Georgia by 1.3 points in FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker and by 1.5 points in RealClearPolitics’ poll tracker.

Some 41 million Gen Zers are eligible to vote nationwide this year, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE. The center also noted that Asian, Black and Latino youth make up a large share of newly eligible voters in the South and the West — regions with key swing states.

At 1.75 million, Georgians between the ages of 18 and 29 account for about 21% — or 1 in 5 — of the state’s 8.2 million registered voters. In that group, those between the ages of 18 and 24 are the single largest bloc of registered voters in Georgia, according to the secretary of state’s Data Hub. The number of 18-to-24-year-old registered Georgia voters is over 950,000. 

Experts say the state’s voter registration system, which automatically registers a person to vote when they get their driver’s license, helped build those numbers.

Though older voters dutifully turn out at the polls, young voters historically have not been as reliable, according to experts and historical data.

“The problem is, many of them don’t show up to vote. People really don’t start voting as a habit until they’re in their mid-30s,” Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, told State Affairs.

But that’s not always the case. When young people turn out, they sway elections. Nationally, half of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in the 2020 presidential election, an 11-point increase from the 2016 election, according to CIRCLE estimates. Youth turnout in 2020 was one of the highest rates of electoral participation since the voting age was lowered to 18 in July 1971.

This age group for the most part shrugged off the upcoming November election until July when President Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris.

“The energy was low. The excitement wasn’t there. [The Biden-Trump race] just wasn’t resonating with younger people,” said Jennings, a self-described “zillennial” because he straddles the millennial and Gen Z line.

Jennings’ counterpart agrees.

“Buying a house in Atlanta, in the suburbs of Atlanta, is almost impossible for a single young person, and it’s aggravating to hear that most people and most candidates don’t talk about that.”

“A lot of young people feel like they are not being heard and what they care about is not being discussed,” Jacquelyn Harn, chairwoman of the Georgia Young Republicans, told State Affairs.

“A big thing we talk about [is] we’re in that age where we’re kind of in our careers but we’re looking to either settle down, buy a house, like we’re kind of next step. Buying a house in Atlanta, in the suburbs of Atlanta, is almost impossible for a single young person, and it’s aggravating to hear that most people and most candidates don’t talk about that.” 

Young people are now taking a second look at the presidential race and becoming more engaged in down-ballot races as they personally deal with economic and social challenges such as high rent, inflation and abortion rights, political observers say. 

The average monthly rent in Georgia is $1,530, slightly lower than the national average of $1,645, according to rent.com, but that depends on location. The state’s housing inventory is relatively low. 

“People forget that young people care about the economy too,” said Ryan Smith, who has connected with many people on cost-of-living issues while campaigning. “A lot of our seasoned politicians think, like, ‘Oh, yeah, 20-something-year-olds don’t care about tax rates and the economy.’ Yeah, we do. We all pay taxes, too. I think young people care more about the economy than they did 20 years ago. I would also argue that young people have always cared about the economy. We’re just forgotten about in those conversations.” 

Niles Francis works two jobs, has a roommate and is preparing to graduate from college in December. The Gen Z political observer said his peers are more engaged heading into the election.

“Now you have people realizing which states are important, where this election is going to be decided and who’s going to decide it,” said Francis, who has built a following over the past four years by writing about Georgia politics and policy in his newsletter Peach State Politics. 

“They know that their vote counts, but now they know where it counts, where their vote would make the difference,” he added.

This year’s slate of Gen Z candidates also wants to make a difference.

“I definitely think Gen Z is a lot more of ‘I’m not going to sit back and listen to the same old wait-your-turn,’’’ Jennings said. “They see something needs to change and it needs to change now, and if no one’s going to do it, then we’re going to do it. This is just a taste of what’s to come.”

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What it takes to live in Georgia: By the numbers

Georgia’s cost of living is often seen as reasonable compared with the rest of the country, but it depends on where you live in the state. Many young people are struggling to get by in the Peach State. For example, it costs more to live in metro Atlanta than in rural Georgia. A recent Bankrate study shows Georgia has the highest hidden costs — insurance, taxes, fuel and maintenance — in the nation when it comes to owning a vehicle.

Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].

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