Meet rising Democratic Party star Anderson Clayton. At just 26 years old, she is the youngest-ever state party chair, representing the Democrats in the red state of North Carolina. But despite electing Donald Trump in the 2024 election, North Carolina’s red days may be soon behind it.
Democrats secured the races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state in this election. They even won enough seats to end the Republican supermajority in the state legislature.
So why did voters elect both Donald Trump and Democrats, at the same time, in November’s elections?
“I don’t think that a political party defines how somebody is going to vote on the ballot. I think that they are looking for a person right now, and that’s why it matters the types of candidates that we run,” Clayton tells Mehdi in this wide-ranging interview.
While Democrats are playing the blame game on how Kamala Harris lost the election, Clayton says, “I don’t think anybody’s a lost cause. I actually think after this election cycle, we should be looking at every single person as somebody we're talking to.”
But it’s not just talking to voters that’s key for Democrats moving forward. “We need to run young people,” Clayton explains. She continues, “They're 60% more likely to vote for a young person on the ballot regardless of what political party that they're affiliated with. And I think that we have to look at young people as a voting bloc that wants to see themselves represented.”
Many young voters aligned themselves with the Uncommitted movement this election given the genocide in Gaza. While some Democrats blame these voters for the election loss, Clayton believes that Democrats can learn something from it: “It was them using political power in the right way because it's something where it's not discouraging people from the political process. It's saying, ‘No, let's use it to have our voices heard.”’
She adds, “That's something where Democrats should be taking it and embracing it … because right now people do not want to build up the Democratic Party. It seems like people are more interested in going around it.”
Watch the full interview to hear about political messaging in rural communities, the North Carolina GOP’s attempt to curb the incoming governor’s powers, and whether she’ll throw her hat in the ring for DNC chair. Clayton also reacts to Bernie Sanders’ criticism of the Democrats.
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