David Austin isn’t one to take the slow lane. At just 20, he completed his undergraduate degree online while still in high school—thanks to the pandemic that upended his sophomore year—and was already “90% of the way” through his master’s degree when he decided to change course last spring.
Enter Forward Blue, the grassroots political action committee (PAC) Austin launched from his mom’s house in Somers Point, a Southern New Jersey enclave just inland from the shore. Its aim? Reaching Gen Z voters.
Politics, Austin explained to Fortune, was “more of a pressing, real-world concern” than his master’s program in counseling.
“We started with the idea that we’d be pretty small—knock some doors, run some ads. We weren’t expecting to be a multi-million dollar grassroots PAC.”
Today, the group has a team of three full-timers and collaborates with other political organizations like Middle Seat and Left Flank. His small but mighty team has contacted over 3.5 million voters—and they expect to double that number in the remaining handful of days before Election Day.
Austin and his team are working to contact voters across the nation, but mainly in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio. They have over half a million donors in every single state. With an average donation size of about $26, they’ve raised just under $18 million so far.
How this Gen Zer is reaching Gen Z—unlike Democrats of yore
Austin’s political ambitions began in earnest when he first watched Donald Trump descend “that stupid little escalator” in Trump Tower when he kicked off his campaign in June 2015.
He was in middle school at the time. “I wasn’t necessarily paying a ton of attention,” Austin recalled. “I saw his name come up more and more; he got more and more coverage. I was really curious to figure out what kind of person this was, and why a reality TV star was running for the White House.”
The Gen Zer turned his curiosity into action when he got his first job as a state-level political volunteer and later joined John Fetterman’s campaign in Pennsylvania in 2022 to defeat Dr. Mehmet Oz.
At the same time, Austin paid his way through college and most of grad school by doing “digital stuff” for small businesses in his area—helping them build up their websites and social media presence. These roles did more than pay the bills; they gave him the “overall lay of the land” for digital marketing, which was critical in getting Forward Blue off the ground in early 2023.
Plus, if anything, his lack of life experience is exactly what sets this group apart from other Democratic groups trying to target young people. “A lot of PACs still love their TV ads—they spend millions there,” he said. But the 20-year-old knows better: “Young people aren’t really watching cable anymore; we do everything but TV.”
Another thing Democrats of yore are doing wrong is investing in physical mailers. “I don’t know anyone my age who regularly checks their mail,” Austin said. “I basically have to beg them to check it if I send them something for their birthday.”
Instead, Forward Blue is putting its dollars where his generation actually spends time, advertising on “all sorts” of streaming platforms—even dating apps like Grindr, which is geared towards gay men.
“We want to meet [young people] where they spend their time,” he added. “Some folks in this space are overly reliant on what worked when they got into politics and they don’t challenge that as hard as they could,” he added.
Will Harris win the election?
Forward Blue is working to elect Vice President Kamala Harris, but it’s also doing its best to protect the Democratic Senate majority, win back the House of Representatives for Democrats, and win “really razor-thin races.”
He built the PAC specifically to build continual Democratic power. “It’s not like you give up on it and try again another time,” he said. “It’s something you have to fight for, year after year.”
When asked whether Harris will win, Austin let out a chuckle. “That’s the question everyone wants an answer to. I will say this: If young people show up, and Democrats show up, Kamala will most definitely pull off a great victory.”
It’s a turnout game right now, Austin said, especially among young folks who aren’t historically the strongest voters. That makes Forward Blue’s work “extremely pivotal.”
“We hear a lot that Gen Z is lazy, entitled, or doesn’t work hard,” he said. “But look at what they’re advocating for. Spend a few minutes listening with both ears. You’ll realize these people are probably more energized and interested in contributing to their community than any previous generation.”
That’s because people in Austin’s generation came of age amid a smattering of crises, like the Iraq War, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to name a few. “Even if they’re not loud in the way adults may expect, they are making noise and showing signs that they’re interested and want to make a change.”
As for Austin, if Kamala wins, he’ll be “very excited” to move out of his parents’ home and find a place of his own that he can afford—and “become one of the next homeowners of America.”
He’d want to stay in South Jersey, a deep red area, over the long term in hopes of building a stronger Democratic infrastructure and flipping some districts. A Harris win would pave “a much easier path to that classic American dream,” he said. “If Trump wins, there will be absolutely no way that will ever happen.”
Austin turns 21, and can legally drink, on November 14—a week after Election Day.
“I live close to Atlantic City, so maybe I’ll have to hit the slot machines.”
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