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Two prominent youth activists — gun safety advocate David Hogg and Kevin Lata, Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost's 2022 campaign manager — are launching a new organization seeking to put more young people in elected office.
"A big part of this ... is electing young people that have the values of our generation, that understand the anxiety of not knowing if you’re going to be able to survive math class," Lata told NBC News.
That's why he and Hogg are partnering to launch a group, Leaders We Deserve, that will support young candidates for congressional and state legislative office.
The group will feature a PAC arm that can coordinate with campaigns as well as a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited amounts supporting candidates.
"Running for office is so hard," Lata told NBC News, "I mean, it's it's gotta be one of the hardest things there is to do and for a young person it's even harder."
Frost, 26, is currently the youngest member of Congress.
Lata added that "young people just don't necessarily have the political connections or fundraising connections. So the idea is ... we'll help raise money for them. We will work to try to help get them, get connected with reporters to write stories about their races ... just like work really closely to help them build out the mechanics of the campaign."
The pair plans to hire a staff to support their work and will select 15 to 30 candidates to back at the state legislative level. They haven't ruled out working with a limited number of congressional campaigns, too.
They're being advised by a diverse group of young, progressive elected officials, including Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., Frost and Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, who was briefly expelled from the legislature for leading a protest in favor of gun control onto the state House floor earlier this year.
The group does not plan to aid campaigns that will challenge incumbent Democrats in primaries, but it hopes to back candidates running in open, safely Democratic seats in states like Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
"We're working to identify leaders and communities all over the country and in particularly, you know, more competitive states," Hogg told NBC News, adding, "States where we need to make inroads and start building the bench now."
Part of the group's hope is that helping young people gain elected office now will ensure those same people remain in office and run for higher office in the decades to come, shaping the country's leaders to better reflect those whom they represent.
"It's important to note that a pretty big inspiration for this is, perhaps ironically to some people, President Biden," Hogg said.
"He started when he was 29 years old," Hogg continued, "doing things right and that enabled him to form the network and experience that he needed to be able to be one of the most successful presidents of our lifetimes."