The midterm elections are generally a subdued affair. None of the breathless horse-race media coverage of a presidential election. Candidate scandals and gaffes are one-day stories.
No October surprises to be found.
But in the last two midterm elections, a revolution in voting in midterm elections has quietly formed. Young voters have long been considered a hard demographic to get out for presidential elections — and barely worth pursuing for midterms. But after years of steady and relatively low voting rates for midterms, young voter turnout spiked in 2018, and 2022 saw their second-highest turnout in the last three decades.
Moreover, with so many important races that were very close, young voters were decisive in key races like Georgia and Nevada. And the future of young voters is bright. The very youngest voters seem to show higher voting rates than in years past. In the recent Georgia run-off election, young voters between the ages of 18 and 24 represented a greater share of votes than either the 25-29 or 30-34 age groups.
Recently, many new and newly re-elected members of Congress were sworn into office who had young voters to thank for their jobs. So now the question is whether they will thank young voters with their actions.
The next two years will be difficult to make much legislative progress, with the House of Representatives controlled by Republicans and the Senate controlled by Democrats — both by very narrow margins. But that doesn’t mean that Congress can just give up on progress.
Many young voters want to see progress on healthcare. Most of the country disagrees with the Supreme Court‘s decision to overturn federal protections for the right to an abortion. Abortion access was a key issue for voters of all ages, but it was the top concern for young voters by a wide margin. With such broad agreement on the importance of this issue, Congress should be able to find a way to codify these projections into law.
And let’s pay attention to mental health in this Congress. The Covid-19 pandemic and everything since its onset have created huge spikes in mental health issues, particularly for college students and teens. This issue is too important to ignore. Congress must continue its work on making mental health more accessible and affordable, including for young adults on employer-based private insurance plans.
In higher education, we are still dealing with a major crisis of student debt and college affordability. While it wouldn’t have solved everything, President Biden’s plan for broad student debt cancellation is a major victory for many young people — yet it’s being blocked in the courts and the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to weaken it or strike it down altogether. But Congress could step in to find another way to solve the issue of crushing student debt.
And Congress could take other more targeted steps to reduce the costs of college for young people like doubling Pell grants, making the FAFSA easier for students, making college cost and aid information easier to understand for students and families and finally reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.
For young people who are not currently in college, they may still need support in the workplace. While the job market is still strong, there is plenty of uncertainty in our economy, and rising prices often hurt young people without as much in savings.
We are far past due for a rise in the federal minimum wage, which has not been raised since 2009 and has not kept up with inflation. Fully funding the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs would help develop robust, infrastructure-focused, federally backed workforce programs. And changes to the tax code like keeping the expanded earned income tax credit and reinstating the expanded child tax credit would help young people weather uncertain economic conditions. Lastly, even young people cannot ignore retirement savings, and under current law, Social Security’s trust fund will become depleted by the end of 2034. Young people deserve a reliably and fairly funded Social Security program that will keep the nation’s promise of a stable, dignified retirement.
All these things may seem like an ambitious agenda, but they are also common-sense measures supported by many Americans. Young Americans have shown up at the polls; now it’s time for Congress to show up for them.
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