WHAT WE’RE ALL ABOUT.

UP NEXT is focused on building a bench of young diverse progressive Texans that want to run for local office in their communities — city council, school board, county seats, and more — to make real changes that push everyone forward. What we too often see is that young twenty or thirty-something year old’s (and even teenagers!) that want to run for public office typically don’t have the bandwidth to be able to do so. This is because being a candidate for public office is very costly, very time consuming, and very much made for people who have large amounts of resources at their disposal. We don’t care about those traditional viability factors that party-establishment leaders typically look for — we care about the candidate and their ability to believe in themselves, work very hard, and truly fight for their cause.

HERE’S OUR PLAN (FOR NOW)

1) Recruit & Identify candidates in target counties and races.

(We are looking at starting off with a small handful of races, possibly more depending on resources available. Recruitment means having in-depth conversations with potential candidates so we can understand their goals, who they are, how committed, etc. We are looking for young people to run for office, meaning under the age of 36 and progressive [click here to learn more]. Some national issues won’t pertain to all races, but when having discussions, we will be inquiring about stances on various economic & social issues.)

2) Get said candidates organized, trained, & on the ballot.

(Once we’ve identified candidates for local races, we will be holding regularly training’s with them, and also find training’s around Texas and the country that they can be sent to.)

3) Help them raise seed money to launch a successful campaign.

(Unfortunately, raising money is one of the largest barriers. Fortunately, some local races can be won with as little as $10k. We will help candidates set up fundraisers, get email lists going, and more to ensure they have seed money needed to win their race. We can’t help them raise every penny, but we can definitely give them a head start.)

4) Aggressive voter outreach & registration plan — KNOCK ON DOORS!

We will be more than happy to collaborate with local Democratic parties on candidate support if they choose to work with us. As we mentioned, we find that sometimes the Democratic Party isn’t always welcoming of young people or new blood into their circles — we will still move forward with support for a candidate if the Party isn’t willing to work with us.

TO POTENTIAL CANDIDATES: We will do everything possible to put you on a path to success, but we can not act as your campaign manager and run your campaigns for you. That is up to you. We will just ensure you are set up for success and connect you with people that can carry you across the finish line.

DISCLAIMER: The above plan is and will continuously be updated and expanded as needed. Running for office isn’t linear by any means, so we will adjust our plan (or candidate strategy) as deemed fit.

MEDIA:

Corpus Christi Caller Time: Here's how a former congressional candidate wants to get young Democrats to run for office