About 47 percent of registered voters ages 18 to 29 cast ballots in the U.S. presidential election last year. That’s less than the overall voting participation of 64 percent, but it shows how young people are playing a bigger role in national elections. At the same time, a recent Harvard Youth Poll found that more than 4 in 10 Americans under age 30 say they’re barely getting by financially, and just 15 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction. Fewer than one-third of these young people approve of President Trump or either party in Congress. Here in Rhode Island, organizing by young political activists has waxed and waned over time. So what role can youth groups play in influencing the direction of politics in the state? And what do activists have to say about the dissatisfaction of young people with both major parties? This week on Political Roundtable, I’m going in depth with chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans Ken Naylor and board member of the Young Democrats of Rhode Island Autumn Guillotte.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript has been edited for clarity
Donnis: Ken, your organization, the Rhode Island Young Republicans, has recently established new chapters in some different communities around Rhode Island. What are you hoping to accomplish with this?
Naylor: We want to have 39 cities and town chapters across Rhode Island for the YRs. The reason for that is candidate recruitment, but the biggest thing is we wanna make sure that we have a strong field game going into 2026, which will be a crucial election. So, voter contact, having the bodies to do that, a strong army, that’s what we’re hoping to accomplish.
Donnis: Autumn, Democrats have a firm grip on political power here in Rhode Island, but the party has been going through a lot of soul searching on a national level after losing the White House last year. Is that affecting efforts to organize young Democrats here?
Guillotte: I think what we’re doing here with the young Democrats is trying to find ways to reach voters where they are. We look around and we see young people are extremely frustrated, especially in the state of Rhode Island. They see an American dream that’s completely disappeared and the main issues at play for them are housing, job security and cost of living. And so we’re going into those spaces to get young Democrats activated on those topics. And that looks like expanding voting access and also getting more young people elected into office.
Donnis: Ken, here in Rhode Island, Republicans now hold only 14 of 113 legislative seats. The party has not elected a governor since 2006. What do you think Republicans need to do differently in Rhode Island to enjoy more electoral success?
Naylor: I think it’s organizing, finding the proper candidates that are gonna run for office that can raise the money that have a strong work ethic. Being the minority party in Rhode Island, it is extremely hard to raise funds. But I think if we keep working hard, putting resources together, we can do that. The governor’s race, we had Ashley last time who came in with a big tent mentality.
Donnis: Ashley Kalus.
Naylor: Ashley Kalus, when she ran for governor in ‘22. And she was able to help a lot of candidates with the resources she had with that. And that’s why I think we were so successful as far as having the infrastructure of a strong field game, and what the RIGOP was willing to bring in ‘22.
Donnis: Autumn, President Trump made some big gains with young voters last year. The Democratic brand seems to be very damaged in a number of battleground states. How do you think Democrats need to respond to this challenge?
Guillotte: I’m encouraged by what we’re doing here in Rhode Island and finding ways to empower more young people to get involved, and that is where Rhode Island can be a leader on the national stage. For us, we have a bill in the General Assembly right now, the Vote 16 bill, which will empower 16 and 17 year olds to vote at school committee races. We’re seeing school committees becoming playgrounds for national politics anyways. This is empowering those that are directly affected, our young teenagers. And then also encouraging them to vote once they turn 18, to have a stake in the conversation. And that’s really what it is. It’s not telling people what they need, but our young people and our young working families know what they need and it’s about them getting a seat at the table.
Donnis: Let’s stay here with Autumn. Just to mix this up a little bit. A recent Harvard Youth Poll found that more than four in 10 Americans under age 30 say they’re barely getting by financially. Just 15% believe the country is headed in the right direction. Are there specific things that you think politicians should be doing to address this?
Guillotte: Raise the wage, invest in affordable housing, and do everything we can to protect the good jobs that we do have. That looks like infrastructure, investments and development. We’ve been the leader in a lot of that infrastructure investment, bringing in billions of dollars for the clean energy sector, that’s thousands of jobs. We also wanna make sure that we’re investing in housing and building that with dignified labor. And going back to raising the wage, people just need more money. We need to find ways to help people pay their bills, get ahead and also thrive.
Donnis: Ken, same question to you. What do you think political leaders should be doing to address the economic anxiety of young people and their lack of confidence in where the country is headed?
Naylor: I think we gotta create stronger jobs. I think the idea that right now in Rhode Island is, it’s tough to live here. It’s unaffordable. It is hard to keep. When we have a railroad system here, a highway, an ocean port, an airport, we don’t do anything to really use those resources where I think we could. I think we could create more stronger jobs in a stronger infrastructure here right in Rhode Island. We have some great colleges here in Rhode Island. We don’t do anything to retain the talent there. And that’s the big thing where we need to start is by retaining some of that talent, keep them from going to Connecticut, New York, and Boston.
Donnis: We’ve heard about a brain train in Rhode Island for many years. What do you think should be done to try and keep more people here in the state?
Naylor: I think it’s just creating more job opportunities, creating more, keeping more businesses here, and keeping it more friendly for small businesses. With all the regulation and red tape that we put on small businesses, it hurts people to grow their business to keep other jobs, and open them up. But we gotta keep more corporate, big businesses here. We have to create the jobs for them. There’s a lot of executives out there that we can keep here in Rhode Island that can grow. Without having these big businesses here, I think it’s hard to see people really hit the, where they could really go at a level of success.
Donnis: Autumn, what do you think should be done about the brain train of young people leaving Rhode Island?
Guillotte: We have an issue of federal funding being extremely, being threatened by this administration funding that is creating jobs that keep families here in Rhode Island that allow me and my neighbors who grew up in Rhode Island to stay here. We have had a strong Democratic leadership that has brought billions of dollars in to create jobs that keep people here and also allow them to thrive. But when we talk about just keeping corporations, just keeping executives, those are not the people that are struggling. Those people have freedom to go anywhere and thrive in Rhode Island. I’m talking about people that are barely getting by that need good jobs, union jobs, which the Democratic party is in support of organized labor and protecting our rights to collectively bargain and not prioritizing the needs of corporate CEOs and billionaires.
Donnis: And we should note, your day job is as political director for the Rhode Island, AFL-CIO. Bit of a wild card question. We’re talking here with Autumn Guillotte of the Young Democrats of Rhode Island and Ken Naylor Jr. of the Young Republicans of Rhode Island. Who is your favorite current elected official in Rhode Island? Let’s start with Ken.
Naylor: Leader de la Cruz by far. Leader de la Cruz on the Senate side.
Donnis: Jessica de la Cruz.
Naylor: I have a lot of respect for her because when it comes time to an election season, she’s everywhere. She’s at every fundraiser, every event for other candidates that are running for office, and she’ll even go out there door knock and work extremely, extremely hard to get other Republicans elected. And I really admire that about her, where she puts the party first.
Donnis: How about you Autumn? Your favorite current Rhode Island elected official?
Guillotte: It’s a tricky one. Since we have so many strong Democratic leaders, especially at the state level and the local level, I’m really encouraged by the new leadership we’re seeing in the state. As far as young leaders that we have, both of our Congressmen, Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner came out of the Young Dems and are representing young people in Washington, and I’m really excited about that.
Donnis: President Trump is 78. President Biden was 82 when he left office. The last presidential election with a major party candidate under age 60 was 13 years ago with Barack Obama in 2012. If we’re living in a gerontocracy, how does that affect how young people look at politics? Ken.
Naylor: Well, I mean, Republicans nationally have a strong bench. We can start with Vivek Ramaswami, our vice president, who is 40 years old, Byron Daniels. I mean, we can even talk about Tim Scott. Nikki Haley, right? We have a strong bench and they are bringing a lot of people in, a lot of fresh new blood and people like that. But I really think we’re gonna see what happens over the course of the next few years, where we go. Trump is gonna be termed out after this. So we’ll see who steps up to the plate and where young people go.
Donnis: Autumn, what do you say to the same question?
Guillotte: At every level, we need to be electing more young people. For us, we endorsed and then got eight young Democrats elected at the municipal level, starting at our most local levels and moving up is how we build a bench of strong, informed and consensus building leadership.
Donnis: Before I forget, if young people are hearing you speak and they want to get involved with your efforts, Ken, what, how can they find out more?
Naylor: Social media is the big one. So Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Our website is under construction right now. We’re doing a total revamp on that, but social media is the way to find us with the Rhode Island Young Republicans. And what about for you, autumn?
Guillotte: Same. We’re on all the social platforms. Our website is great, but you know, you can just reach out to us on Bluesky, on Instagram, Facebook, and also we’re hosting town halls and community gatherings as well, so you can find us in person.
Donnis: Speaking of media, the media landscape continues to change very rapidly. A couple years ago, no one had heard of TikTok. Now it’s a very influential source. Where are most young people getting their political information in Rhode Island these days? Autumn.
Guillotte: I don’t think it’s gonna be a surprise to say social media and things like podcasts and YouTube clips, and I don’t think it’s just young people that are using these same platforms. So now really the challenge is cutting through the noise to get to the issues that really matter.
Donnis: What do you say, Ken?
Naylor: Yeah, it’s social media. I mean, Twitter alone, our X is definitely the fastest way. I know all of the YR chairs in the city and towns actually have Twitter notifications for Ray Baccari, Ted Nesi, yourself. We get ’em all. So that’s the quickest way to get the information. But we have seen this explosion with podcast. Theo Vaughn, Joe Rogan, where people are really gravitating towards that. Even on Instagram, I believe there’s a podcast, it is called RI Club Ambition that is growing relatively quickly and people are growing to that because they’re on the social media and they’re going right to it.
Donnis: We’re coming up on an election year next year. What are you most looking forward to, Ken?
Naylor: Finding new candidates, working hard, talking to voters. But I really think that if we look back at CD two, that is gonna be back in play with the right candidate and the right message. We saw what Allan Fung did in 2022, where he got 47%. Steven Corvi ran, didn’t really raise any money. He was kind of just running. He still got 42. I think CD-2 is gonna be in play. We need the bottom of the ticket to work together, the top of the ticket, and we need to focus in on CD-2 and get that back in play.
Donnis: Autumn, what are you most looking forward to in the next election season?
Guillotte: Continuing to fight for strong democratic leadership, and that means speaking to the issues that matter most to young people and families across the board. Housing, jobs security, cost of living.
Donnis: Ken, this week marked 100 days for President Trump. What letter grade would you give him?
Naylor: I’d give him an A because it was all promises made, promises kept
Donnis: Autumn.
Guillotte: F. We’re looking at a budget that is cutting critical services for working people, all for the sake of billionaire tax cuts.
Donnis: Thank you so much for joining me. Board member of the Rhode Island Young Democrats, Autumn Guillotte, and Chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans, Ken Naylor.
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Val Lawson won the presidency of the Rhode Island Senate this week while downplaying questions about possible conflicts of interest with her job as a union president. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF politics column posting around 4:00 this afternoon on X, Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, and at thepublicsradio.org/TGIF.
That’s it for our show. Political Roundtable is a production of The Public’s Radio. Our producer is James Baumgartner. Our editor is Alex Nunes. I’m Ian Donnis, and I’ll see you on the radio.
