Group announces plan at Newsmaker to recruit millennials to run for office in November

Laquan Austion, CEO of a new political organization, Action for America outlined at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference March 22 a bipartisan effort to recruit 100 members of the millennial generation to seek state and local political office in the coming election.

“America needs a vibrant political movement for the 21st Century,” said Austion. “Not one that tells people to wait in line.”

The initiative seeks to unite candidates behind a 10-point program of new ideas
for the United States, Austion said.

Austion said that millennials have grown up watching “political dysfunction” in Washington and across all levels of government. He said that both parties have been divisive and prone to spreading dysfunction in the political arena.

Austion noted that millennials and “millions of Americans” want the political arena to change and look for a new model of how government works. He compared the current political environment to two popular television shows.

"It has been a bad episode of ‘House of Cards’ meets ‘Scandal,’” he said. “While it makes for great television it does not do much for governing.”

Austion said that his group wants to bring change to the political arena, similar to how Uber and AirBnB have changed their industries. He said that this would include creating an infrastructure to help millennials run and bringing more millennials into the process.

Austion was joined during the by Brandon Paulin, mayor of Indian Head, Md., who was 19 when he was elected last year. The youngest mayor in Maryland history, Paulin first became involved in government by attending Town Council meetings at the age of 10.

Now, as mayor, he has worked to get other young adults involved in town government, including appointing high school students to town boards.