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Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to ok F Daily with

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Speaker 1: me your girl, Danielle Moody. Pre recording from the Long

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Speaker 1: Island Bunker. Folks, I'm taking a couple of days off

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Speaker 1: as needed for my mental health in combo with my birthday,

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Speaker 1: and so we have left you with fantastic interviews to

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Speaker 1: begin to unpack where the hell we're going. So coming

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Speaker 1: up today is a conversation with the communications director Antonio

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Speaker 1: Ariano at next Gen America. And in this conversation we

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Speaker 1: talk about the youth vote. We talk about how the

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Speaker 1: youth vote was handled, what issues were most concerning. This

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Speaker 1: conversation came before the outcome of the election, but it

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Speaker 1: was nonetheless about what is needed to entice, engage and

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Speaker 1: excite the youth vote and what did Dems do this

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Speaker 1: time around and what can they learn for the future.

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Speaker 1: So that conversation is coming up next, folks. I am

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Speaker 1: very excited to welcome to WOKF Daily Antonio Ariano, who

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Speaker 1: is the vice president of Communication at next Gen. Antonio

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Speaker 1: tell us a bit about next Gen and the incredible

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Speaker 1: work that you all do to engage the youth of

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Speaker 1: this country.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me next to America

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Speaker 2: is the nation's largest youth voter organization. We've been around

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Speaker 2: for nearly twelve years now, and we focus on mobilizing

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Speaker 2: young voters eighteen to thirty five year old in key

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Speaker 2: states across states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona,

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Speaker 2: eight in total, and we do it through a wide

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Speaker 2: range of tactics. We do field operations across college campuses

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Speaker 2: and universities. This cycle, Connection America was on over one

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Speaker 2: hundred college campuses talking directly to young voters about the

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Speaker 2: importance of mobilizing and registering to vote, as well as

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Speaker 2: a robust digital operation. We connect with young voters online

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Speaker 2: on social media and also leverage one of the largest

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Speaker 2: influencer programs in the youth progressive space.

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Speaker 1: So, Antonio, we're speaking today. It is election day. We

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Speaker 1: have no idea what the outcome will be, and so

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Speaker 1: we won't make any predictions today, but I do want

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Speaker 1: you to talk to us about the importance of galvanizing

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Speaker 1: the youth of vote. The work that you all have

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Speaker 1: done over the last twelve years, but scifically the work

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Speaker 1: that has been done over the last year, really the

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Speaker 1: last three months of the Vice President's campaign to engage

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Speaker 1: a youth vote that I don't think saw themselves connected

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Speaker 1: to a Biden campaign, So talk to us about that,

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Speaker 1: about the experience of kind of switching gears.

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Speaker 2: This cycle has been completely unprecedented in so many ways,

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Speaker 2: but you're absolutely right. The young voter enthusiasm increased over

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Speaker 2: the last couple of months after the withdrawal of President

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Speaker 2: Biden from the race and the incoming participation of Vice

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Speaker 2: President Harris as the Democratic nominee. We saw a surge

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Speaker 2: of enthusiasm among young voters, particularly online, and the way

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Speaker 2: that Kamala HQ or Vice President Harris's digital efforts the

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Speaker 2: attention of the nation was really unique, leaning into culturally

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Speaker 2: competent messaging, also tapping into moments in pop culture like

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Speaker 2: the Brad album from t XX, and really leaning into

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Speaker 2: where young voters were already engaging online. She was able

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Speaker 2: to tap into those moments and create viral moments that

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Speaker 2: catapulted her in a way that we really haven't seen

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Speaker 2: presidential candidates be able to do. Leading up to this moment,

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Speaker 2: we saw both President Biden and former President Trump trying

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Speaker 2: and attempting to create these viral moments to capture the

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Speaker 2: intention of a younger electorate, but not really being able

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Speaker 2: to hit the mark like Vice President Harris did. And

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Speaker 2: I think it's because she has been able to tap

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Speaker 2: into the side guys of pop culture across America and

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Speaker 2: speak to young voters in a culturally confident way that

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Speaker 2: is authentic. This generation craves authenticity. They can see straight

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Speaker 2: through the bs. They are not looking for an over polished,

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Speaker 2: over message. They want you to talk to them about

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Speaker 2: the core issues that are mobilizing them. And that's another

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Speaker 2: key point. Young voters across this country don't have party affinity.

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Speaker 2: They don't identify as Democrats or Republicans. They're issue voters.

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Speaker 2: They care about the issues that are plaguing their generation

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Speaker 2: and want to see ambitious plans and proposals to provide

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Speaker 2: results for those issues.

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Speaker 1: You know what's really interesting to me too, as you

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Speaker 1: talk about the cultural competency, is that what I saw

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Speaker 1: with these two very different campaigns and now I'm talking

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Speaker 1: about the Trump campaign versus the Vice President's campaign, is

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Speaker 1: that both had a desire to reach out to young people,

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Speaker 1: two very different groups of young people. When it came

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Speaker 1: to Donald Trump's campaign, we're talking about young white men

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Speaker 1: and tapping into that community and group. And when you're

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Speaker 1: looking at the vice president, you're looking at all youth,

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Speaker 1: all young people from various walks of life. Can you

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Speaker 1: give us your thoughts on what Donald Trump and the

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Speaker 1: MAGA Republicans have done to tap into their youth community

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Speaker 1: and kind of what you have seen there and where

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Speaker 1: you see the differences between these two different sets of

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Speaker 1: youth voters.

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Speaker 2: I think one of the key differences is former President

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Speaker 2: Trump's campaign leaned on extremists podcast silos within the Internet

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Speaker 2: that echo his sentiment, like going on shows like the

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Speaker 2: Rogan Podcast and things of that nature to try to

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Speaker 2: capture the attention of an audience that is leaning towards

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Speaker 2: his own political tendencies already. But you're right, he definitely

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Speaker 2: catered to a younger, more white male audience through an

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Speaker 2: almost misogynistic lens, which was a very interesting approach. As

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Speaker 2: no surprise that in recent times, young men in particular

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Speaker 2: have erode it from savior participation. They are struggling to

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Speaker 2: find where they fit in and what party actually reflects

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Speaker 2: their ideals or represents them authentically. And I think both

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Speaker 2: parties have a lot of work to do, particularly when

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Speaker 2: it comes to young black and brown men, the Democratic

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Speaker 2: Party as well is trying to make end roads with them,

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Speaker 2: and that means making sure that we're listening to their

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Speaker 2: core issues, addressing the problems, providing plans and proposals. Like

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Speaker 2: Vice President Harris has recently released particularly an agenda for

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Speaker 2: black men in particular, trying to center their lived experience

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Speaker 2: and saying, Okay, I understand that there are some unique

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Speaker 2: lived experiences here that we need to identify and then

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Speaker 2: provide solutions, whether it's an economic plan to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we're building generational wealth or helping them keep a

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Speaker 2: roof over the head, food on the table for their families.

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Speaker 2: She's speaking directly to them in a way that I

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Speaker 2: think President Trump really failed to do. There is moments

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Speaker 2: on this campaign, again as unprecedented as it was that

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Speaker 2: the former president found himself having a mug shot one

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Speaker 2: that was a historic moment in this cycle, and then

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Speaker 2: this to lean into that in a really interesting and

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Speaker 2: unique way, to say the least, by saying that the

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Speaker 2: black community, black man actually saw that as appealing because

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Speaker 2: what identify what I identify with that, which is I

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Speaker 2: think completely ludicrous and reprehensible, quite frankly to be able

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Speaker 2: to try to blanket an entire community with such ridiculous statement.

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Speaker 2: But there was different tactics. They were all clearly trying

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Speaker 2: to see what's stuck. And the reality is that democracy

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Speaker 2: needs to modernize. If we're talking about mobilizing a new generation,

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Speaker 2: a young electric this is a digital generation. This is

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Speaker 2: a generation that's grown up with social media at their fingertips,

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Speaker 2: and that's where they're consuming the majority of their information.

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Speaker 2: That's where they are going to listen to the thought

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Speaker 2: leaders and trusted messengers of their times. It's no longer

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Speaker 2: the six o'clock news, it's no longer the broadcast anchors.

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Speaker 2: It's these folks that have created a mass, large followings

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Speaker 2: online and both campaigns were trying to tap into that

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Speaker 2: in unique ways. And you know, I think either way

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Speaker 2: that you slice it, what you'll see is that these

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Speaker 2: social media platforms have become a new resource and tool

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Speaker 2: in the tool belt of democracy. Historically, campaigns leaned on

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Speaker 2: phone banking, or mailers or TV ads. Now adding to

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Speaker 2: that tool belt is social media distribution, viral moments and

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Speaker 2: content creation and a robust digital presence, which is why

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Speaker 2: you saw both candidates joined platforms like TikTok to guard attention.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think that one of the things too

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Speaker 1: that you lay out and I'd like to unpack a

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Speaker 1: bit more, is this leaning in to independent media and

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Speaker 1: independent media sources something that I think that we saw

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Speaker 1: from the Vice President's team, And she was getting a

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Speaker 1: lot of pushback from not giving quote unquote these interviews

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Speaker 1: to legacy media outlets like oh my god, you're not

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Speaker 1: going to the New York Times, You're not doing this,

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Speaker 1: that and the other thing, and how dare you go

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Speaker 1: and sit down with podcasters and with YouTube creators and

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Speaker 1: what have you. And I think that what I took,

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Speaker 1: you know, as an independent creator myself, is the recognition

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Speaker 1: of how much our media landscape has changed. But can

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Speaker 1: you talk to us a bit more about why you

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Speaker 1: think that youth voters young voters more identify in that

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Speaker 1: space than past generations have, Like why, you know, it

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Speaker 1: seems as if almost there had been kind of incremental movements,

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Speaker 1: let's say, back in two thousand and eight, and we

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Speaker 1: saw a little bit more incremental movements in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: but there's been this kind of leapfrogging that has happened

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Speaker 1: in terms of digital space and independent media. So can

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Speaker 1: you speak to that.

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Speaker 2: The infrastructure is completely changing. And if we look at history,

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Speaker 2: we look at how the medium of the moment or

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Speaker 2: of the eras has really dictated results and even who

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Speaker 2: ultimately gets to sit behind the desk in the Oval office.

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Speaker 2: I'll give you an example. When President Nixon was going

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Speaker 2: against JFK. They hosted the first televised debate in American history,

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Speaker 2: and in that debate, JFK was the younger candidate, appeared

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Speaker 2: more strong, more attractive, and hence won that election. Fast

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Speaker 2: forward to social media. In two thousand and eight, President

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Speaker 2: Barack Obama captured YouTube, the attention of YouTube and created

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Speaker 2: his movement Yes We Can, and created an inspirational message

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Speaker 2: for a new audience and was able to connect with

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Speaker 2: them through a YouTube lenth. Fast forward to twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 2: Now Twitter is the main platform and Donald Trump taps

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Speaker 2: into Twitter in an unprecedented way. Thumb could argue that

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Speaker 2: his access to Twitter got him elected. And now here

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Speaker 2: we are in twenty twenty four wards, it's at the

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Speaker 2: tip of the spear and TikTok is now what's reaching

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Speaker 2: the masses, and we're seeing both candidates gravitate to the

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Speaker 2: platform that both of them, at one point or another

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Speaker 2: have called to be shut out. So what we're seeing

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Speaker 2: here is them recognizing in this moment, we must modernize,

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Speaker 2: we must adapt, and I think it's wise. And I

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Speaker 2: also think that we haven't really fully explored the mass

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Speaker 2: potential of social media. I always think, what if doctor

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Speaker 2: King had social media or his I Have a Dream? Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: most the thing had I have a Dream was a hashtag,

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Speaker 2: it would have not just changed the civil rights in America,

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Speaker 2: it would have changed the world. And so now we

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Speaker 2: have a tool that allows us to connect nationally and

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Speaker 2: internationally with the click of a button. And I don't

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Speaker 2: think we fully tapped it into it fully, but we're

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Speaker 2: seeing how these candidates are investing in it. And at

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Speaker 2: the same time, we're also seeing how these platforms are

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Speaker 2: creating silos at some extent also a little bit of dysfunction.

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Speaker 2: People are seeing their ideas regurgitated back to them, and

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Speaker 2: it's creating a little bit more of division as well,

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Speaker 2: because you become a community and you are arounded by

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Speaker 2: like minded people without any real challenge. And I think

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Speaker 2: that there is pros and cons there that we still

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Speaker 2: need to learn and adapt, and I think Congress needs

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Speaker 2: to look closely at what parameters we need to put

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Speaker 2: in place, particularly when it comes to younger folks on

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Speaker 2: this platform.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that you're right too, because you know,

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Speaker 1: it is both a win and a loss to a

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Speaker 1: certain extent. Won, the win being the democratization of voices, right,

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Speaker 1: and and kind of cutting through the red tape and

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Speaker 1: who gets greenlit. But then there is also these silos

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Speaker 1: that have been created. But we've seen with Twitter, for instance,

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Speaker 1: with you know, the ability of one man to suppress

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Speaker 1: the experiences of billions of people, right based on his

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Speaker 1: own his own ideas we saw. We see with TikTok, right,

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Speaker 1: this desire to shut it down because of its ownership

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Speaker 1: being in China as opposed to in the United States.

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Speaker 1: We see with across meta platforms that Meta has suppressed

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Speaker 1: uh h expressions of politics and votes uh and and

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Speaker 1: encouragement are around voting. So there is this push pull

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Speaker 1: that we see that I think, you know, it is

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Speaker 1: about who owns these channels, who owns the information uh

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Speaker 1: and has the ability to shut it down at you know,

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Speaker 1: at a at a whim, right. But I do see

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Speaker 1: and I do believe that moving forward that these spaces

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Speaker 1: social media and these independent spaces will be more of

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Speaker 1: a hub and potentially more of an investment place. Where

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Speaker 1: television ads costs, we know how much they cost tens

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Speaker 1: of millions of dollars to run spots that we see

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Speaker 1: played over and over again. It is much cheaper to run,

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Speaker 1: you know, to run ads and build native content on

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Speaker 1: platforms as opposed to what you can do with TV.

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Speaker 1: What do you think, just with with with with a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes that we have, Antonio, what do you

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Speaker 1: think right now and again very early, but what are

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Speaker 1: some of the lessons that that next gen America you

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Speaker 1: think will take from this election cycle into the next.

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Speaker 2: I'll give you one clear example. At Nextion, we're still

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Speaker 2: looking and searching in terms of a data driven approach

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Speaker 2: to what are the most influential and trusted voices online

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Speaker 2: that can help both combat disinformation misinformation but also inspire

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Speaker 2: voter registration and civic participation. And what we've come to

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Speaker 2: discover is that across the space, whether it's artists, singers, actors, athletes,

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Speaker 2: the athlete college athletes in particular are the most influential

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Speaker 2: and at Nexttion. This cycle, we've launched and expanded our

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Speaker 2: Athletes program. We recruit college athletes and draft them into

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Speaker 2: the best team in the game, which is next in America,

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Speaker 2: and allow them to use their voices to encourage their teammates, classmates,

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Speaker 2: and their fans to register to vote. And the reason

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Speaker 2: that we do this is because to research, we've identified

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Speaker 2: that athletes and college sports is surrounded by a fandom

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Speaker 2: that is loyal, that is passionate, that hangs on their

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Speaker 2: every word and wants them to succeed. They're founded in community,

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Speaker 2: they're founded in state, they're regional, and so when an

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Speaker 2: athlete encourages you to go out and vote and register

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Speaker 2: to vote in a non partisan way, their fandom is

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Speaker 2: more likely to be susceptible to that and to do it.

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Speaker 2: And so that's one clear lesson to continue to amplify

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Speaker 2: the voices of these beacons of inspiration within their own

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Speaker 2: community already and leverage their voices. Recently, there's been a

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Speaker 2: change in the laws, the Name Image Enlightness Laws NIL

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Speaker 2: laws that have allowed YEP College students to use their name,

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Speaker 2: image and likeness and profit from it. And we're one

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Speaker 2: of the first organizations to tap into that new law

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Speaker 2: update and begin to work with these college athletes. But well,

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you you know, with leveraging these non traditional

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Speaker 2: media platforms, we're also able to humanize these candidates. Whereas

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Speaker 2: a CNN interview or an MSNBC interview sometimes can lean

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Speaker 2: so much into a gotcha question or like high level

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Speaker 2: policy question, these alternative platforms allows us to have questions

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Speaker 2: about their humanity, you know, and get to know the person,

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Speaker 2: not just the political candidate. I've seen so many candidates,

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Speaker 2: so many interviews recently in this cycle that have asked

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Speaker 2: questions that are non traditional questions, and you kind of

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Speaker 2: get to know the person more intimately asking questions that

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Speaker 2: sometimes may seem silly. And when you make that human connection,

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Speaker 2: you break the silo, you break that fourth wall and

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Speaker 2: allows you to perhaps look at the candidate in a

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Speaker 2: different light. And if you didn't previously think this was

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Speaker 2: somebody that could fit your priorities and your issue perspectives,

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Speaker 2: maybe you have a change of heart after you hear

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Speaker 2: about how they navigate the complexities of their own lived existence.

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Speaker 1: My last question for you, Antonio is you know this

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Speaker 1: cycle is coming to an end, and I'm wondering what

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Speaker 1: does engagement look like moving forward? I think that to me,

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Speaker 1: what I keep telling my audiences is that if there

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Speaker 1: is a good thing to have been learned about Donald Trump,

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Speaker 1: is that without vigilance, without engagement by an educated citizenship citizensry,

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Speaker 1: these types of bad actors will be able to infiltrate,

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Speaker 1: will be able to take over. And that our democracy

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Speaker 1: in the health of it requires that people not just

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Speaker 1: check in every four years or every two years, but

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Speaker 1: that they are checked in and dialed in every year

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Speaker 1: at their state, local, and federal levels. And so what

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Speaker 1: does engagement moving forward outside of an election cycle look

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Speaker 1: like for next Gen America?

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Speaker 2: Well, one, I think that we need to recognize that

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Speaker 2: we've built and created so much progress. Nextion is proud

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Speaker 2: to be one of the oldest youth vote organizations in

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Speaker 2: the countries that have lead down an infrastructure and a

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Speaker 2: foundation for the youth vote to prosper and to foster

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Speaker 2: in We've done an incredible job of trying to break

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Speaker 2: down the myths that young people don't care or that

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Speaker 2: young people don't vote. If you look at the most

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Speaker 2: recent election cycles, you've seen that young voters have turned

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Speaker 2: out in historic numbers cycle after cycle. In twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: Biden and Harris were elected with the largest youth voter

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Speaker 2: turnout in modern American history, followed by the midterm elections

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Speaker 2: where gen Z voters single handedly stopped a red wave

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Speaker 2: with an unprecedented turnout during a midterm, and this cycle

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, I believe the young voters will

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Speaker 2: once again make their voices heard in record numbers. As

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Speaker 2: a matter of fact, Gen C, ever since they've been

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Speaker 2: of age, they've been bucking that myth, and so let's

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Speaker 2: start looking at young voters as an integral part of

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Speaker 2: democracy and start to continue to invest that. Being said,

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Speaker 2: what we've also learned is that grassroots organizing works making

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Speaker 2: sure that we are building collec power, that we're talking

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Speaker 2: to each other about the power of our voices and

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Speaker 2: our votes, and recognizing that far too many people have

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Speaker 2: struggled and sacrificed to get us to this point and

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Speaker 2: we could not take this for granted. Democratic backsliding at

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Speaker 2: the international level is something that is very real, and

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Speaker 2: for the first time ever, in twenty twenty, America was

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Speaker 2: added to the international list of democratic backsliding countries. What

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Speaker 2: does that mean? Democratic Backsliding is when you are jeopardizing

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Speaker 2: your democracy and your country, and it has three telltale

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Speaker 2: signs that you are in trouble. Number One, inter democratic

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Speaker 2: backsliding candidates or authoritarian figures, excuse me, begin to question

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Speaker 2: the pillars of institutions of government, think the Department of Justice,

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Speaker 2: questioning the FBI, questioning the Supreme Court. There's one candidate

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Speaker 2: in this race that has done that repeatedly over the

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Speaker 2: last eight years. Second, they begin to appoint loyalists to

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Speaker 2: the highest positions of power, surrounding themselves by people that

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Speaker 2: will not reject them, that will own approve of their ideals.

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Speaker 2: And one candidate in this race appointed his sister his

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Speaker 2: daughter in law, excuse me, to be the chair of

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Speaker 2: the of the political party that he seeks and sought

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Speaker 2: the nomination. And number three, I begin to discredit the

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Speaker 2: institutions that hold them to account. The news the press

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Speaker 2: began to say that they are liars, so that people

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Speaker 2: begin to get confused and don't know what to rely on.

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Speaker 2: These are telltale signs that there is the democracies in

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Speaker 2: danger and we've become way too close. We've we've come

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Speaker 2: way too close and played too close to the edge.

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Speaker 2: America needs to learn from those lessons, and to your point,

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Speaker 2: we can't allow for figures like this to once again

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Speaker 2: get within proximity, within striking distance of the most powerful

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Speaker 2: job in the.

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Speaker 1: World, Antonia. Lastly, please tell people you know you have

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Speaker 1: laid out such an incredible work that you all have

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Speaker 1: been doing over the last decade plus. Please tell folks

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Speaker 1: how who are listening, how they're you know, they can

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Speaker 1: get involved, their kids can get involved, their grandkids that

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Speaker 1: are listening can get involved in the work of Next

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Speaker 1: Gen America. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I just want to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we recognize that young voters have recently experienced a

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Speaker 2: lot of voter suppression and with voter id laws and

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Speaker 2: campus limitations for casting ballots. And I want people young

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Speaker 2: people in particular, to know that the reason that the

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Speaker 2: youth vote has been historically under attack is because you

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Speaker 2: are so damn powerful. That being said, if you want

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Speaker 2: to get engaged, if you want to mobilize and organize

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Speaker 2: your community and create a more impactful future, visit Nextgenamerica

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Speaker 2: dot org or follow us on any social media platform

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Speaker 2: as next in America and there you'll find a community

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Speaker 2: that's building a youth movement to create transformational change for

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Speaker 2: generations to come.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, Thank you Antonio so much for

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Speaker 1: making the time to join WELLKF Daily really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: and appreciate all of the work that you have done

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Speaker 1: this cycle and will continue to do moving forward. That

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Speaker 1: is it for me to day. Dear friends on woke

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Speaker 1: f as always power to the people and to all

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Speaker 1: the people power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.