David McNew/Getty Images
When Donald Trump first took office, his presidency unleashed a wave of bigotry and violence. Throughout his first term and ahead of our most recent presidential election, he championed legislation that targeted women, immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ+ communities.
But, since he was first elected in 2016, something powerful has happened. Gen Z has helped transform how social movements are organized and amplified.
In 2018, high schoolers mobilized at least 1.2 million people for March For Our Lives protests across the country, demanding an end to gun violence, according to estimates from organizers at the time. In 2019, youth climate activists coordinated more than 1,100 strikes in every state in the country, according to the Washington Post. By 2020, Gen Z had rewritten the playbook for digital organizing. We transformed Instagram from a photo-sharing platform into a comprehensive hub for mutual aid coordination, political education, and more. Progressive information accounts — like ours (@theslacktivists) — worked to drive voter registration, too. Alongside accounts such as @impact and @genzforchange, we worked to mobilize voters ahead of the 2020 election. As Trump prepares to return to the White House, we’re getting ready to fight back as digital organizers and changemakers who have learned how to win.
We also know that part of the battle lies within younger generations. Over the past several years, many young people have been drawn toward Trump’s message or disengaged entirely, choosing not to vote or participate. This moment demands action—not just to win the next election but to re-engage our generation and rebuild trust in collective change.
We’ve spent the past 8 years building massive political power. Here’s how we’ll use it to push forward in the next four years and beyond:
1. Building power at the state and local level
By 2028, Gen Z and Millennials are expected to become the majority of the U.S. voting population. in the U.S. When we elect strong, progressive state and local leaders like governors, city councilors, state legislators, attorneys general and school board members, real change happens in our daily lives.
Regardless of who was in control at the federal level, city and state governments have moved their communities forward on issues like economic equality, climate action, and criminal justice:
-
More than two dozen states have established minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage since 2014, some reaching over $15, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25/hour since 2009.
-
In 2021, Louisville, Kentucky’s mayor directed the local government to prioritize purchasing of electric and hybrid vehicles to support efforts to transition to an electric municipal fleet, and in 2020, Portland, Oregon set a target of net-zero carbon emissions before 2050.
Strong local leaders can also help protect vulnerable communities from harmful federal policies. During Trump’s first term, dozens of cities including Santa Fe and Minneapolis affirmed their sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants. When federal LGBTQ+ protections were rolled back, school boards in Philadelphia and Chicago committed to maintaining safeguards for trans students.
In 2025 and 2026, there are important local elections happening around the country. These races often have low turnout, which means that each vote is even more impactful.
Beyond turning out in local elections, we need to elect Gen Zers into public office. Leaders like 26-year-old NYC Council Member Chi Ossé and 25-year-old Illinois State Rep. Nabeela Syed are proving the impact our generation can have in local government.
TL;DR: Get involved in city and state politics – maybe even run for office. Find out when your next local elections are, support a campaign, and commit to voting.
2. Supporting progressive ballot initiatives
Voting for politicians isn’t always enough to achieve the change we want to see. Enter: ballot initiatives, which allow us to vote on policies, laws and funding that directly impact our communities.
While Democrats lost big on the federal level this year, a number of progressive ballot measures won across the country—even in red states.
● In seven states, abortion rights were protected.
● Nebraska voters legalized medical marijuana.
● Missouri raised the minimum wage to $15.
Progressive policies are generally popular, and ballot measures give us a powerful tool to pass them–even in states controlled by Republicans.
What’s more, we can use ballot measures to build even more electoral power. This year, high school students in Albany, CA succeeded in getting a ballot measure passed allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal and school board elections. With this win, Albany joins other cities that grant some voting rights to younger teenagers, giving Gen Z more say in policies that affect them.
TL;DR: Join or start groups in your area to get progressive measures onto the ballot for the next election cycle. Then, get out the vote to make sure the policies you care about pass.
3. Amplifying grassroots movements
What seems to have been forgotten in the noise of Trump’s second win is that politics is about people, not just the politicians we elect. When our leaders fail us, we turn to our communities.
Community resilience can come from grassroots organizations and mutual aid networks providing essential services, advocacy, and support. Post-Roe, abortion funds have helped people get care, like the Florida Access Network, which provided $400,000 to support 1,500 people in 2023. After the 2021 winter storm in Texas, CrowdSource Rescue says it assisted over 17,000 Houston residents with food, shelter, and supplies.
In 2016, for many, mutual aid was a lesser-known concept. This time around, we know how to rapidly mobilize resources. Since the 2020 presidential election, we’ve utilized grassroots organizing to boost youth voter turnout through peer-to-peer texting, social media, and on-the-ground outreach. We’ve mastered digital strategy, trained thousands of young activists, and built networks capable of raising millions of dollars for people in need.
TL;DR: Find a local organization or mutual aid network working on issues you care about. Volunteer your time, donate when you can, share resources, and build relationships.
Where do we go from here?
Power isn’t given – it’s built. Our past wins haven’t been accidents or luck. Hard work, intentional organizing, mass movements and coalition-building made us successful. Our future wins won’t be any different.
If 2016 and 2020 were about building an army to mobilize against Trump, 2024 is about using that army to persuade—persuading voters to participate, believe in collective action, and demand change from their elected leaders. It’s about showing people how progressive policies will benefit them.
The new challenges ahead are serious. Supreme Court decisions have granted Trump even more unchecked power, and we still have to contend with a Republican trifecta, and terrifying plans laid out by more than 100 conservative groups (see: Project 2025).
We know people are tired—tired of being told to fight, and tired of fighting itself. But stepping back risks everything we’ve built. And, this time, we are starting this fight with an arsenal of resources: Organizers in every state, digital networks reaching millions, tested strategies for winning, established mutual aid infrastructure, and deep community relationships.
What makes Gen Z different isn’t just our digital native status – it’s our understanding that change requires sustained, strategic action at multiple levels. We’ve turned TikTok trends into GOTV outreach efforts, Instagram stories into mutual aid networks, and X into real-time organizing hubs.
The coming years have the potential to test our democracy in ways we haven’t seen before. But we’re prepared to leverage our power.
Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
More great activism coverage from Teen Vogue:
