The Idaho Young Democrats were as much responsible for any of the success that we achieved in 2018 as any other single group.

BY STEVE LANDON, CHAIR, BANNOCK COUNTY DEMOCRATS, AND 2018 LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE

As we say goodbye to 2018 and move into 2019, I would like to give a shout out to the Idaho Young Democrats and the work that they did in the 2018 elections.  Up until this election, I was not really sold on the younger generation and their commitment to change.  After witnessing the mess that we called the 2016 elections, and what I considered a cop out by young people who stayed home because they did not get the candidate they wanted, I was a little leery to say the least.  That opinion has definitely changed.  The Idaho Young Democrats were as much responsible for any of the success that we achieved in 2018 as any other single group.  From the leadership that was displayed by the Idaho Democratic Party Staff and the enormous amount of work, training and candidate support that they were able to achieve to the campaigns that were led and worked on by Young Democrats all over the state it was very clear that young people are committed to a better world and they are willing to work their tails off to get it.  Field Organizers all over the state put in 60 and 70 hour work weeks for months organizing, recruiting and identifying volunteers and voters.  Some of these Organizers were straight out of college and this was the first real job they had ever had.  They approached it like professionals and accomplished things that we would have previously thought impossible.  We owe a great deal to Elle Casner, who took the Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director job under difficult circumstances and then put together a team of young people who ran what I think is the best Democratic Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort this state has ever seen.  Jessi Boyer is doing a fantastic job as the President of the Idaho Young Democrats (IDYD), and with the help of people like Dylan Simpson, Ethan, Secrist, Joe Goode, and thousands of young Democratic activists, this state is on the way to parity and progress. 

In Bannock County, Ethan put together a GOTV effort of more than 200 volunteers who made 20,000 phone calls and knocked on 8000 doors.  More than half of those volunteers were young people from the three local and high schools, and Idaho State University.  We have three active Young Democrat chapters at the high schools and another working hard at ISU. As I have said before, I do not fear the future; I am ready to embrace it. These young people and IDYD are going to change the world, starting with this state. 

Steve Landon
Chair, Bannock County Democratic Party