Thank you so much for being here.
So let's just start off really easy.
Tell me about yourselves.
Yeah.
I'm an incoming junior at UW-Milwaukee.
My major is political science and I'm minor in economics.
Yeah.
And you were the vice chair of college dance?
Yes.
Yes I am.
And what do you do for college dance?
Basically, really we're just trying to get people involved.
And that really is the format of meetings,
weekly emails, and also just like general outreach during like tabling.
And what got you into politics?
Well, really kind of started with like my familial background I would say.
My parents are both very, very interested in politics,
especially democratic politics in Milwaukee.
My dad was a part of the labor union.
My mom, she's a, she's a professor.
So they both really see the importance of getting involved.
And taking that personal right of civic duty.
And you told me a little bit earlier that you actually gone out and
acted in politics from a young age.
What was that about?
Yeah.
So basically my dad, big Obama fan, probably the biggest Obama fan I've ever met.
He was a big fan in 2008.
And then once me and my sister got a little bit older in 2012,
we were really able to go out and canvas and doorknock.
And I was like six.
So I don't really remember.
I remember being extremely cold.
But also I remember the importance of it and how, you know,
we were doing that and then he ended up being elected.
And in my mind as a kid, I was like, I did that.
You know, I was the one who allowed him to be there.
But also it was just kind of the feeling of, you know, I can make a change here.
Yeah.
And so you're a young person, right?
Yes.
I've been told.
So as a young person that's engaged in politics.
Tell me, what are you experiencing as a challenge right now?
Well, I think the really the biggest challenge is I feel like a lot of young people don't
think that the older people in office are seeing eye to eye with us.
And whether that's, you know, rising tuition costs, rising costs of living,
you know, a lot of us, we'd have, you know, hourly pay jobs and a lot of us
have salary positions.
So that can kind of bring a few monetary issues when it comes to, you know,
paying for gas that's over four dollars or paying for groceries,
like facing necessities that aren't as cheap as it used to be.
And a lot of young people have to take on this responsibility of getting
more than one job plus balancing, you know, just being young and also
balancing school and life and family life.
It's just all kind of becoming a little bit waited, I would say.
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit more about like old people not understanding.
Do you feel like that's something that's like part of the parties right now or part
of your career and wave of politics that there's, you know, like this sort of
divide between old people and younger people?
I mean, like, you kind of see this a lot throughout history.
I think a lot when I think about it is the 1970s when women were fighting for
reproductive justice.
I think a lot of the times they didn't think that older people saw what they
saw as, you know, abortion being this right.
And I think a lot of the time older people maybe just want to keep things
the way that they are.
And young people are a lot more progressive.
So I think that we just sometimes don't see eye to eye that tends to flat line.
A lot of our, like, big issues.
So I just think that a lot of the time there's just not a lot of through line.
But, like, there sometimes is.
You have totally.
And so tell me about the college.
Obviously you're a Democrat.
Yes.
So what about the Democratic Party?
Do you think addresses these concerns for young people?
Well, I think that the Democratic Party has a better way of being progressive.
You know, I think a lot of the times the Republican Party wants to go back
and wants to kind of end and cut all these things that really have been
really productive for a lot of groups.
You know, whether that's stamp benefits, EBT, you know, they were cutting funding
for that, which has helped so many people, especially in my city of Milwaukee.
And, yeah, I'm sorry.
I don't know that.
It's fine if you want to try that over or.
Yeah, for sure.
What was the question?
The question was, what about the Democratic Party?
Do you think you're addressing young people's needs?
Yeah.
Well, like, I guess, I think the Republican Party can be a lot less progressive,
especially when it comes to issues like stamps and EBT, you know.
And I think, like I said before, younger people are just a lot more of a progressive group.
They want to see things change.
And I think the Democratic Party, while maybe sometimes their policies may be a little bit
progressive for some, I just think that they have a really good job of understanding
that the world needs to change and it needs to progress forward.
And sometimes it's okay to have a little bit of progression and to have that, you know,
disconnect with another side so you can get what you want at the end.
Yeah.
And so we were talking on the phone last week about sort of the gender divide.
Yeah, politics.
I want to get your thoughts on that again.
Do you think it's one party is pushing one gender away?
Do you think one party is pulling more gender?
Do you think it's going on there?
Well, I think one party is overstating the issues of one gender because of progression.
You know, I think a lot of the times men had this very secure position in society,
whether that's in the home, being the breadwinner, whether that's in economics,
being the smarter person.
And I think the Democratic Party has really pushed women out of this kind of hole, you know,
to be the breadwinners, to be the ones that, you know, understand that, you know,
life isn't just a man's job, it's also a woman's job.
And I think that, you know, when you think about issues of, I don't know, like women outpacing men
and some education and even in the workforce now,
I think a lot of the times Republicans want to make men out to be the minority group
when it's very much not that.
Have you obviously do a lot of work in politics, but outside of that,
have you experienced any of that kind of tension in your daily life at all?
Um...
That was a fine answer.
I was like, um, I think that, like, I'm very fortunate to be a part
and be around many people that don't just see me as a woman,
or doesn't just see the historical, I guess, notion that women have had.
I think that a lot of the people that I put myself around really do understand the importance of a woman
and really does understand the importance of equality and equity.
Yeah, yeah.
And, um, this was actually, like, an article I was looking at earlier today
that it had a really interesting framing on this.
It said, like, yeah, men are doing, you know, worse politically, maybe.
Yeah.
But, like, or no, sorry, I got that back.
Men are doing maybe not as good as they used to.
Like, they're not getting as high of a degree as women are,
and they're not maybe getting as many jobs as women are,
but women are doing worse politically, right?
You had, like, the Me Too movement, um, Dobbs, right?
Right.
And, um, they didn't get the presidency.
Right.
Do you think that sort of helps even divide,
or do you think that's sort of, like, a symptom?
What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I think it's probably deep in the divide across party lines,
but I think within the party, it really did just make us more closer,
and it really made us understand that we have a lot more to fight for other than just fighting against Republicans.
Like, we have to strengthen the base so that we can be able to take on people like Donald Trump, you know?
Yeah, totally.
Um, so moving away from gender, um, one of the, another stat that I saw was that, um,
young people are more independent, um, and outside of the parties.
They're still obviously going within the party, because, like, we only have two.
But, like, um, um, but, you know, what, what do you make sense of that?
Do you think people are upset with the parties? Do you think people are just more new ideas?
What do you think our generation is so independent?
Well, I think, you know, I think a lot of the times, like you said, you know,
I think there's a lot of anger within Democrats, because a lot of people just see Democrats losing everywhere.
You know, we've lost, or, I guess, Kamlo lost, you know, in 2020, or 2024,
and then Hillary lost in 2016, like you said, and I think a lot of the times,
it just doesn't seem like Democrats are doing enough for young people,
even though it's kind of hard to get kind of that support across the aisle
so then you can get things done.
But I think a lot of the times, like, young people are just very independent
and allows themselves to think for their own, and I really admire that.
Yeah, and so, as a young person in politics, what do you see other young people doing right now that you think is great?
Well, I think a lot of the time they're taking, you know, their own initiative to do the research,
to go out, to go talk to candidates.
You know, I think a lot of the time what makes young people now very, um, unique
is that we have social media, and we have the internet to be able to do that research
and to be able to really get an answer for ourselves.
Yeah, yeah, and, um, going back to college, Democrats, um, you, were you one of the, I'm sorry, um,
I'm not, I misremembered. Are you one of the founding members of UW Milwaukee?
I'm not, that was our past president, Sydney, another Sydney.
Yeah, um, she was the founder.
Okay, but you've been involved since, uh, more or less to start.
Yeah, can you tell me a little bit about what you guys have been doing to build that up?
Mm-hmm. Well, really, we're just trying to just get people interested in politics.
I think that's really been the issue, is getting people, you know, interested in, well, why would I vote if I feel like nothing changes?
Well, we want to show you what could change if someone who we don't want office is here,
or we can show you the changes of what we do when we really come together and get someone in.
And I think with college Democrats, we were really able to hone in on that, whether that's, you know, tabling events,
whether that's just events with, um, different, with different people around Milwaukee, like Alderman's,
and, you know, we, we really want to have whoever the gubernatorial candidate is, like, we want them to come and speak.
So we just really want people to just really be excited to go in, so then there'll be more inclined to go to the polls,
so then there'll be more inclined to tell their friend, hey, you know, go vote, or even, like, just walking around with the sticker,
you know, like, we have stickers that we give out, we have pins, like, we try to make it as fun and as, like, hard as possible,
so then we make politics a habit.
And, um, do you have, like, a, like, a success that you, from this time that you've been with College Gems,
that you think you're really proud of?
Yeah, I think one of the biggest successes that we've had was, um, we put on a candidate forum for two of the Assembly 19, I believe.
Yeah, sorry, wait, can I redo that because I totally forgot?
No, yeah, so, um, we were really able to, oh, yeah, sorry.
Yeah, um, so basically we had a candidate forum for Assembly District 19 for Ryan Clancy and Bridget Manianci,
and that's where we invited, you know, community leaders, students, my mom came, so many people came, we had questions,
and we were really able to flesh out these candidates and see what they would do for us.
So I think that was really, I'm really proud of that, because I think that had a really good turnout,
and we were really all able to come together and learn about these different candidates,
even if we didn't know anything about them before, we really did leave learning something important.
Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but I want to know your thoughts on social media.
How do you think that's affected our generation since we've had Instagram since, like, 10?
You know, right? How do you think that's affected us?
Yeah, um, I think social media has been friend and foe.
You know, friend is like, you can really look up anything and you can get that knowledge.
You know, you don't have to go to a library.
You don't need to ask someone who's already biased.
You can go find, you know, unbiased websites.
Foe is that a lot of the time people can go to the wrong places and find that information.
Like, a lot of people go to TikTok for their sources, and it's like, a lot of times,
TikTok is just people talking to a camera with opinions.
It's not real backed up knowledge.
So I think people can be misinformed and disinformed, and you know,
there's a lot of people out there who want you to believe one thing,
and it can be really indoctrinating sometimes.
So it's just being able to tell what's real and what's not,
and like, obviously social media literacy is really important now, you know,
with AI and, you know, internet deep fakes and stuff like that.
So I just think that it's been hard to juggle.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Two more questions for you.
Yeah.
So this is going to air, like, September 25th.
So way after the primary, we don't totally know who the Democratic candidate is yet,
but it's, I think at this point, either going to be Crowley or Hong, right?
They're both not 68-year-old, like, Tom Tiffany.
No!
So my question for you is, you know, like, do you think that has an impact?
I mean, the last Biden was, he was hit on for being old.
Trump is starting to be hit on for old. Lindsey Graham just died.
What do you think that, do you think the age of politicians has an impact on youth folk?
Oh, absolutely. I think that a lot of the times when we see someone who's a lot older,
we just don't feel connected. You know, you can talk to your grandparent,
but you don't really feel super connected like they understand how you feel.
And I think that having younger candidates really does open up the pool for us to, you know,
have greater ideas. You know, it's not just people who have been informed by the past,
it's people who are also informed by the present and the future,
and who will be leading the future, which is Gen Z.
Yeah, yeah. So a final question for you. You can take your time with this.
Do you have a message for politicians as a young person about what you want them to know?
I have to make those guys. I have to make them the wrong guys.
Oh, God. Let me think.
I mean, I guess mine will be, we're here for you just as much as you're here for us.
You know, as much as we want to help you get somewhere, you also need to help us.
And I think that a lot of young people are helping, you know, with the Francesca Hong campaign,
you know, the David Crowley campaign, and even with, you know, Sarah Rodriguez, who just dropped out,
I think a lot of the times it's really backed by young people.
A lot of the biggest movements have been backed by the youngest crowds.
So I just think that we shouldn't lose sign on that.
You know, if it's just not even just 19 year old, 20 year olds, 21 year olds, but like 10 year olds,
11 year olds, like start them off young, you know, you shouldn't just allow
people to just cloud your judgment, especially people who are older.
You know, and I think a lot of the times we should be really pushing towards the future.
And I think a lot of the politicians who I see running for the governor's seat really do want young people a part of the future.
And that's what I like to see.
Any final thoughts, anything you feel like we've missed on that you really want to say?
Vote.
Vote August 11th.
That's what I want to say.
This is going to air September 25th, you want to try it?
Vote November.
Very good.
Thank you.
One last thing before I cut, we got to get what we call room tone.
So it's just 20 seconds of the sounds around us and like your conditioning a little bit of the street
helps us smooth out some audio issues in post.
Yeah, that's fine.
Okay.
And cut.