The 2022 midterms were swept by a youth wave that isn’t pulling back

The “red wave” political pundits have been predicting for months failed to materialize this past Tuesday. But what happened was not a “blue wave” either — rather, the 2022 election should be categorized as a “youth wave,” with near-historic numbers of young people turning out to vote, motivated not by party, but by the issues impacting them. 

Early data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE) suggests that 27 percent of people ages 18-29 cast a ballot in 2022, marking the second-highest youth turnout in a midterm election in the past three decades. In critical states where razor-thin margins are ultimately determining control of local, state and federal legislatures, including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, CIRCLE found that youth turnout was even higher, at 31 percent. 

Gen Z, alongside millennials, is on its way to becoming part of the largest voting bloc, and what we are seeing from Tuesday’s election is that they are approaching elections and politics in their own way. They care about issues more than candidates and even parties, and they are ready and willing to ask the tough questions of those in power. 

Take abortion as an example of the power young voters hold. In May, I predicted that the Dobbs decision would mobilize an entire generation of young women who care deeply about preserving their bodily autonomy. Over the summer, young people registered to vote in record numbers in Kansas to protect abortion rights. And new research from IGNITE, where I serve as CEO, found that Gen Z broadly supports abortion access as a policy. So it’s of little surprise that young people showed up in droves in politically diverse states — Kentucky, Vermont, Michigan, Montana, and California — to once again resoundingly vote in support of reproductive choice. 

Early data also suggests that young people were potentially deciding factors in the Pennsylvania and Georgia senate races. In my work with young women across the country, this comes as no surprise. One of the hallmarks of John Fetterman’s campaign was its use of social media, a surprisingly underutilized tool when it comes to courting the youth vote. And in Georgia, youth turnout was historic. The young women I work with in the state were perhaps more fired up than I’ve ever seen them. And of the thousands of young people I talked to in the state as part of GOTV work, more had voted early than not. 

Voting is not the only place where Gen Z made a splash this election cycle. They also showed up by working on campaigns, organizing around and advocating for issues they’re passionate about, and even running for office themselves. Maxwell Alejandro Frost has received considerable attention as the first Gen Zer elected to Congress, but Gen Z also ran and won down the ballot as well, from state seats to their local mosquito abatement board. 

I woke up on Wednesday to congratulate our alums who ran and won, all of whom are in their 20s — Mary Black for Raleigh City Council, Kristen Gonzalez for New York State Senate, Crystal Williams for Newark’s Board of Education, Jocelyn Yow for Eastvale, Calif., City Council and Munira Abdullahi, who will be Ohio’s first Somali American lawmaker. 

The past several years have been marked by Gen Zers — especially young women — not just speaking out but acting on the issues they care about, from rallying around gun violence and climate, to demanding justice for women abroad, to demanding change on student debt. It’s not about the politics for this new generation, it’s about the issues.  

I’d venture a prediction that this “youth wave” isn’t an anomaly. In fact, we know it is not, because 2018 and 2020 saw similarly impressive turnout rates for young people. As more and more of Gen Z — an undoubtedly action-oriented generation — come of age to vote, the power of the youth vote will only grow. So why do political pundits and even some campaigns continue to count this critical bloc out? 

If there’s one takeaway from this election, it’s that candidates and campaigns that want to win need to speak to the issues young voters are passionate about, from student debt to reproductive justice, to mental health and more. 

Sara Guillermo is CEO of IGNITE, a young women’s political leadership organization.