The NPR Politics Podcast - Meet The New Bosses — Younger Than The Old Bosses

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

The chair of North Carolina's Democratic party is just 25. Her Republican counterpart in Alabama is 37. Together, they represent a younger generation making inroads in political leadership. How do their perspectives inform their parties' plans in 2024?This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, and political reporters Ximena Bustillo & Elena Moore.This episode was produced by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at AutographCollection.com. Hi, this is Tom in Liverpool in the United Kingdom. I'm just submitting my dissertation for my MA while listening to the NPR Politics podcast. This podcast was recorded at... 1.06pm on Monday, September 11th.

Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but I'll be still waiting for my dissertation results. Okay, here's the show. Oh, I hope it was a good result. Fingers crossed for you. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Ximena Bustillo and I also cover politics. And I'm Elena Moore. I cover the campaign. And a major theme of the 2024 campaign so far has been about age and how voters feel about the likelihood of having two older candidates on the ballot next November. President Biden, of course,

is 80 years old. Leading Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump is 77 years old. But you two have been reporting on the other end of the age spectrum, profiling the youngest Democratic and Republican state party chairs in the country. Let's start with Democrats. The youngest party chair is from North Carolina. Elena, tell me about her. Right. Her name is Anderson Clayton. She's 25 years old and she's from this town called Roxborough, which is like an hour north of Raleigh. It's about 8000 people. And she is very, very proud of where she's from. It's something she talks about a lot. And it's part of her political message. She ran on this idea that Democrats have left rural voters behind. And as a young person, she's 25, like I said, they've taken young voters for granted.

So that's that's really her big message. And it's something that she talks about very honestly. Rural areas right now are dying. And like people for years have just sat there and said, y'all deserve that. You deserve to sit out there. If you're going to choose to live in an area like that, you deserve just to die out. Is she clear eyed about how difficult it has been for Democrats to make inroads into rural communities, which have just gone redder and redder and redder in recent elections? I think so. I mean, she understands that this is like not an easy battle and that this is not something that can be fixed in 2024. But I think just talking about it in itself, like calling out the elephant in

the room is a step for a lot of rural folks in these communities that she's visiting who have felt, you know, disenchanted with the party for so long. And I think one of the clear links for her has been connecting policy wins from President Biden's administration directly to rural voters. And the thing she talked about a lot was the bipartisan infrastructure law and how it's going to affect North Carolina. It was this, you know, huge piece of legislation that was passed a few years ago. And it's going to pour billions of dollars into North Carolina and every state around the country. But in North Carolina specifically, it's going to help projects, you know, support better broadband and transportation and clean water. And these

are issues that Clayton says are really crucial to rural communities. And she's not afraid to directly link them to Biden himself. I get asked all the time, like, how are you a young person that's voting for this guy? And I'm like, because he's the only president that's ever looked at a place like where I'm from and said, I believe in that. And I'm like, why would I not want someone to believe in people like me? And that's a really notable thing to hear because we've seen in poll after poll, I mean, all age groups, but especially young voters are pretty lukewarm on Biden. You know, they're not overly generous. That's very generous. They're not overly enthusiastic about him. And this is a crucial age group for Democrats in any election, let alone in a presidential election. Obviously, state party chairs exist to support their party's nominee. But I'm curious to hear

more about her view of Joe Biden and his age because it has been so central to the campaign. And does she think it's going to be an issue next year? Well, we have seen a lot of other Democratic leaders tout these infrastructure investments, but not necessarily say Joe Biden did this. They tie it to broader Democrats or they tie it to broader, you know, progressive movements and investments. But Clayton specifically makes this tie to Joe Biden. And she does this without being prompted. It is just something that comes out right out the gate, which is something you also don't hear necessarily from a lot of younger voters who

might be excited about these packages, but are disillusioned by his age. That, however, is not something she cares about. Jimena, she's interesting to me as well because how she came into power is a bit of her story. Not everybody wanted her to be the party chair. Right. She was not necessarily endorsed by the establishment when she ran against an incumbent. So the person that previously held her role was running again, and she ousted her, basically. And once she did, she did get support from the party. But she is very vocal in the fact that she was, you know, sometimes told to wait her turn. And she says that young people in politics

often face that, told to wait their turn, let someone with more experience take charge. And you got to remember, North Carolina did not vote for Biden in the last election. And that's something she says haunts her because it was only 74,000 votes. And so she wants to change that in 2024. So she really also has a lot to live up to. You know, Joe Biden did not win North Carolina, as you noted, Jimena, but Barack Obama did in 2008. North Carolina since then has been sort of this prize for Democrats, but they haven't been able to get there. What is the case she's making for how Democrats can win North Carolina in 2024? I think part of it is being honest about what they did wrong in 2022. Which was what?

Well, Democrats lost a ton of ground. I mean, on the state level alone, they left over 40 state races uncontested. Oh, wow. And now, after more in-party fighting with the Democratic Party, the Republicans hold a supermajority in the state House, Senate, and state Supreme Court. So on the state level, there's a ton of ground to make up. And one thing Clayton is doing is pledging to put a Democrat on the ballot in every state race in 2024, which is a pretty big goal when you have over 40 seats you have to fill. I mean, that's 50 state Senate races and 120 state House races. So just on the local state level, that's going to be huge. And

then going more nationally, I mean, like we've said, she's a big Biden fan, despite her age, despite where she's from and being from a rural place, despite having community members. And even she said that her own dad in 2016 voted for Trump. He's since changed his mind, but she's heard opposition to Democrats before in her own life. And I think her leading this charge for Democrats is really telling of both the demographics they want to reach and the people they want to keep. All right, let's take a break. And when we get back, we'll talk about the Republican Party's youngest state leader. It's a highly choreographed event.

The president boarding Air Force One. The president goes up that staircase, stands at the top, and waves to the cameras and the people below. But in recent months, President Biden has been routinely taking a shorter set of stairs. It's also more stable. And it also has the benefit for the president, for the White House, of putting most of the president's assent or dissent out of view from cameras. It's a switch that draws attention to one of Biden's greatest weaknesses among voters, his age. That's in our latest bonus episode for NPR Politics Podcast Plus listeners. If that's you, thank you for your support.

And if it's not, it could be. Sign up today at plus.npr.org. And we're back and we're sticking in the South, where in Alabama, they have the youngest state Republican Party chair. Ximena, who is he and what's his story? Well, he is Chairman John Wall. He is 37 years old from North Alabama, and he's a butterfly farmer for his daytime job. But also during his whatever free time he can find, he leads the Alabama Republican Party. This is his second term as chairman, also his second time hitting that milestone of being the youngest.

And he has certain goals. You know, he's trying to strengthen the GOP hold on Alabama, which, as we know, GOP already dominates. Can it get any stronger is a question some folks might be asking themselves. He says yes. He says it can definitely get stronger. Also, one of the things you said was a bit of a record scratch moment to me because we're talking about young leaders, we're talking about young voters. And while I appreciate that both of you are considering 37 young, 37 is still a bit older in the context of talking about getting young people to vote. And I wonder if that. Maybe 37 is the new 29 in the Republican Party. 37 is the new 29. Well, he makes the joke that in order to be a young Republican, you only need to be like under the age of 40. So he makes the joke that that's a reason people

should join the Republican Party is it'll keep them young. But in all reality, there is a stereotype of Republicans really being older white men in their 60s and 70s that are completely out of touch with younger folks. And we've heard even Democrats say, well, 37 is actually kind of young when it comes to the world of politics. You know, I think that's really in the limelight, not only with who is the front runners for both political parties for the presidential election, but also some of our leaders on Capitol Hill as well. There is some indication that particularly under Donald Trump, they have made some inroads in with Black communities, more so with Latino communities. But it still seems like a Republican party in the South having much appeal to Black voters in a state like Alabama is a very, very heavy lift. I think for Wall, he knows that this is a challenge, but he thinks that it's very clear

that the Republican Party can be the party of both these faith-based issues and kind of steering away from the like divisive social issues that, you know, Democrats and Republicans are fighting about on the national level. And he's been pretty adamant about the fact that he wants to hire recruiters and bring in staff into Southern Alabama, into these majority Black areas, and just like make connections with people, show face, be more present in a place that you can argue Republicans haven't been. When Ximena and I were in the Huntsville area in Northern Alabama, we kind of put this pitch to Democratic leaders in the same area, and they were skeptical. It's a Democratic stronghold in those parts of southern Alabama, and I think that making inroads is going

to be incredibly difficult. I'm curious. We've talked about how the North Carolina party chair views Joe Biden. I'm curious about how he views Donald Trump, who obviously is still very popular in a state like Alabama. But polls similarly show that voters would like a Republican at the top of the ticket that is not Donald Trump either. Republicans are also sort of dealing with this question of having a candidate that a significant chunk of their primary base electorate right now is saying, well, we might pick someone else if it wasn't Donald Trump. Right. And I mean, Wall was very clear with us that he can't endorse a candidate in the primary. He's a party chair. But he has had both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the state for a recent

fundraiser, as well as former President Trump. And he, you know, touted those did very well and broke fundraising records at the time. And he's very open about having people come to Alabama. And he wants Alabama to be like, kind of like a stop on the Republican campaign trail and make it like a, you know, a place that Republicans go make it a bigger player, not just like a safe state. And, you know, while he did emphasize that these fundraisers were important and seeing the candidates are important, he also stressed that issues are the most important aspect of appealing to voters. You're going to see a state that is making inroads with minority communities with young voters. And I think this is something that could be used across the nation, you know, and it really is going back to policy and how that affects people's lives and less about personality and personal attacks. See, when I hear someone say they want less about

personality and personal attacks, that is sort of a wink that they're a little tired of Trumpian style politics. Right. And though he could not, you know, go there with us, I think that that statement was something we heard a few times from him and definitely speaks more to what's going on on the national level with this campaign. But what of the policy? Because I think one of the things that when we talk about young voters, the future is more diverse, less white, more secular, and a lot of the policy of the Republican Party, especially on things like social issues right now, seems to be pretty divergent to where young voters' positions are. And I'm curious what his argument is for how the Republican Party can appeal to those young voters' positions are. And I'm curious what his argument is for how the Republican Party can

appeal to those young voters. I think a lot of what he focuses on when it comes to young voters is traditional pocketbook issues. But he also is very upfront that some of his top issues are like items like school choice and stopping what he calls woke policies in education, which will not resonate or does not resonate with younger voters. And so there is kind of like this dual messaging where, you know, security. He says he wants to go to college campuses and, you know, have conversations about how conservative politics, less government intervention, et cetera, can benefit some of these younger voters and their views. Republicans could do better if we can get our viewpoint across and if we can explain the values and the issues we stand for and how that affects young people. You both have been covering young voters more broadly in this campaign, and I'm

curious if we could sort of widen it out a little bit. And if you get a sense of how heavy a lift it's going to be in 2024 to energize younger voters, if they are looking at if age is a factor, if there's, you know, some of the oldest candidates in the history of the country at the top of the ticket, how hard is this North Carolina chair and this Alabama chair and all these other chairs that are talking about young voters? Do you get the sense that they are engaged, that they are enthused or like this is going to be a difficult sell? Well, I think it's a multi-part problem because for Democrats and for Republicans, neither have this age group locked down. I think that though it's been seen in the past several major elections that young voters or voters under 30, voters under 40 overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates, they don't overwhelmingly

call themselves Democrats. And they are more energized by issue over party time and time again. And we've seen that even in the last election in 2022 over the issue of abortion. So I think that any side thinking that this group is solidly Democrat or solidly a question mark is misleading. At the same time, North Carolina's party chair, Anderson Clayton, and John Wall in Alabama have totally different challenges ahead. Wall in Alabama is operating in a ruby red state. And truthfully, his stakes are lower. I mean, he already has his party base solid. He's just looking to pick up more seats. And though his challenge is going to be picking up seats in a part of the state that have overwhelmingly sided with Democrats, and, you know, as we've seen in many other states,

like Black voters overwhelmingly vote with Democrats, that's a different battle. For Clayton in North Carolina, she's young, and she's working in a state that is purple. I mean, as Jimenez said, it could be a huge decisive state. And on the top of having to put all these other people on the ballot, that's going to be a whole different thing. And I think the one thing that these two have in common is they're young and they're using their age as an asset and they're using their perspective to try to reach new communities. But after that, these two couldn't be more different in their challenges ahead. You know, I'm just going to ride out the rest of the day believing that 37 is still very young.

I like that. I like that age math. OK, that is it for us today. We'll be back in your feeds tomorrow. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Ximena Bustillo and I also cover politics. And I'm Elena Moore. I cover the campaign. And thanks for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.