Growing turnout where there’s room to grow It’s happened before. The final, low-prestige panels of the Netroots Nation conference — late Saturday afternoon when people are already leaving — turn out to be the most interesting. “You cannot win without the youth vote” featured observations from Voters of Tomorrow panelists: Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, many national news sources suggested that the youth would not turn out. In reality, the election saw the second-highest youth turnout in the last 30 years. Gen Z voted overwhelmingly for pro-democracy candidates. Without the youth vote, the “red wave” may have become a reality. The Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade was the animating issue in 2022, as well as in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in 2023. While the youth vote has been increasing, 2022 was the first when over half of Gen Z could vote, the panel agreed. They predict even higher turnout in 2024. Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, 26, told a ballroom crowd earlier that Democrats must work to make Gen Z’s future a hopeful one of abundance, not retrenchment, if they want their engagement. Campaigns now have to shift their perspective on the youth vote, not simply focus on voter history and voting propensity for which there has been, until recently, little data for Gen Z. Best messenger to GenZ is another member of GenZ To reach younger voters, campaigns must have young people in the campaigns empowered to do outreach to young people. It’s their future on the…