Former hedge fund manager turned major Democratic donor Tom Steyer has announced plans to hold a massive voter registration drive on college campuses in the coming months as part of his NextGen America initiative.
In a recent press release, Steyer’s NextGen America announced that they will be dispatching nearly 800 organizers to 420 college campuses across 11 states, with a goal of registering 100,000 new millennial voters by mid-September. According to Steyer, success for Democrats in the midterms is dependent upon getting out the millennial vote, which has historically been low during non-presidential election years.
“Young voters … are essential to propelling progressives to victory in 2018 and beyond,” declared Steyer, the NextGen America president. “In November, young people can take back the House and take a stand against the divisive policies of Donald Trump.”
In addition to holding on-campus voter registration drives, NextGen America has also announced they will be targeting popular on-campus events for students, such as football tailgates, art shows, and strangely enough, “petting zoos.” Steyer’s group will be targeting several states with key Senate races, including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Steyer rose to prominence in 2010 after he pledged to contribute a majority of his billions of dollars in wealth to liberal causes related to climate change. Since then, he has poured millions of dollars into each election cycle in his support of liberal candidates. Most recently, Steyer’s efforts suffered an embarrassing defeat in the 2016 elections after pouring approximately $100 million in to various races, only to come up short in many battleground states that helped propel Donald Trump and other Republicans to victory.
While the success of Steyer’s efforts will be unknown until after the midterms, he is not cutting costs. NextGen America has grown into a $33 million youth advocacy effort that focuses mainly on issues related to climate change, healthcare, equality, and immigration, but has also set its sights on getting out the youth vote for progressive candidates.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and has continued to contribute regularly.
