Gen-Z for Change Endorsement Qualifications

As members of Gen-Z, we know the future is ours, which is why we chose to endorse candidates who we know are working to make that future more livable, equitable, and just for everyone. Below, you will find policies across 12 different issue areas that our endorsees have all indicated they support implementing.

Please note, this is not an all-encompassing list of these candidates’ policy platforms, but it does demonstrate the criteria for which we used to make our decisions. We believe in these candidates and the potential they have to make change in office, and we hope you do too.

Climate Change

Climate Change

Each of our candidates has indicated they support promoting the Green New Deal vision in all policies, banning fracking, investing in affordable, energy efficient, zero carbon housing and wind and solar power, allocating resources to Indigenous communities, implementing traditional ecological knowledge, establishing a modernized electric grid, supporting democratized publicly owned utilities and cooperatives, expanding public transportation and biking/pedestrian infrastructure, protecting public lands, creating green spaces, establishing clean, accessible drinking water, establishing Cumulative Impact in the Environmental Protection Agency, combatting and understanding environmental racism, standing vocally against Cop City in Atlanta, and Implementing intersectional climate education in schools.


Economy

Economy

Each of our candidates has indicated they support raising the federal minimum wage to $17, ending the tipping loophole, establishing a federal job guarantee, increasing unionization efforts, increasing funding to National Labor Relations Board, expanding Social Security, expanding rent control, establishing a 4-day workweek, establishing universal and free broadband for all, establishing a wealth tax on the ultra-rich, and increasing the corporate tax rate.


Education

Education

Each of our candidates has indicated they support free undergraduate tuition, addressing the student debt crisis, canceling the entirety of student loan debt, passing a Green New Deal for Public Schools, free school meals for K-12 students, and protecting DEI and Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies.


Gun Violence

Gun Violence

Each of our candidates has indicated they support expanding and enforcing universal background checks, providing universal mental health care, establishing red flag laws, combatting the influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on elected officials by reversing Citizens United, ending gun show loopholes, and reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban.


Healthcare and Reproductive Rights

Healthcare and Reproductive Rights

Each of our candidates has indicated they support single-payer healthcare, codification Roe v. Wade, the repeal of the Hyde amendment, protection and public distribution of mifepristone and other reproductive-related drugs, and institution of free birth control access.


Housing

Housing

Each of our candidates has indicated they support making federal funding mandatory for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, supporting the Ending Homelessness Act to expand Section 8, making federal funding mandatory for Section 9 public housing programs, increasing funding for public housing agencies across the country, implementing an eviction moratorium for renters living in all federally funded properties, and directing courts to stop evictions for renters applying for emergency rental assistance.


Immigration

Immigration

Each of our candidates has indicated they support the closure of cruel detention camps, the expansion of critical policies (such as DACA, DED, and TPS), ending collaboration between local police and ICE, ending racial profiling by deportation agents and local police, access to guaranteed counsel, independent immigration courts, citizenship pathways for all undocumented people, protections for agricultural workers, safe-guarding birthright citizenship, expansion of sanctuary cities, and access to state documentation.


Indigenous Rights

Indigenous Rights

Each of our candidates has indicated they support defending the Indian Child Welfare Act, ending Line 3 and phasing out all existing and future oil and natural gas projects, honoring Indigenous tribal treaty rights and sovereignty, and reauthorizing and expanding the Violence Against Women Act.


LGBTQ+ Rights

LGBTQ+ Rights

Each of our candidates has indicated they support passing the Equality Act and codifying ERA, protecting gender-affirming healthcare, fighting discriminatory "bathroom bills," protecting the existence of LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculums and extracurriculars, advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual education, increasing the accessibility of PrEP, fighting the stigmatization of HIV+ individuals, continuing to reform the discriminatory FDA blood ban, and ending the ongoing attack on the queer art form of drag.


Palestine

Palestine

Each of our candidates has indicated they support a ceasefire in Palestine, ending US military aid to Israel, and advocating for Palestinian liberation.


Racial Justice

Racial Justice

Each of our candidates has indicated they support HBCUs and HSIs, reallocating local police budgets to fund social and health programs proven to deter crime, ending racial discrimination and mass incarceration, legalizing marijuana federally, ending for-profit prisons, ending cash bail, ending anti-Asian narratives, ending de-facto school segregation, and expanding language accessibility within the criminal justice system.


Voting Rights

Voting Rights

Each of our candidates has indicated they support passage of federal legislation aimed to safeguard voting rights, working towards getting money out of our elections, abolishing the filibuster, expanding voter registration options, banning voter-ID laws, ending gerrymandering, enforcing public school registration opportunities, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register, holding those who illegally purge voters accountable, reforming judicial laws, passing federal legislation to apply an ethical code to the Supreme Court, and abolishing the Electoral College.


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Gen-Z for Change