insurgent youth rebellion

This story is developing and will be updated as more information comes to light.

Sunday night marked the end of the second quarter, an important milestone in congressional races. The FEC requires candidates to report their fundraising progress quarterly, and Q2 numbers are used by activists to determine the viability of different candidates.

Across the country, young insurgent candidates have launched campaigns against entrenched centrist incumbents, many of which have held their respective seats for 20+ years. As the centrists of the country continue to focus on a policy agenda consisting solely of “beating trump”, candidates running in blue districts often lack institutional support afforded to those running in “battleground districts.” This lack of institutional support means these campaigns are on their own when it comes to organizing and fundraising.

Despite the lack of institutional support and refusing to take corporate PAC donations, several insurgent campaigns around the country managed to hit impressive fundraising goals by the deadline Sunday. For comparison, Ocasio-Cortez had raised around $1,450 by the end of Q2 2017, and $11,464 by the end of Q3.

The strong early support for so many young candidates running for office is an indicator young people across the country are growing increasingly dissatisfied with establishment politicians, and are ready and willing to take matters into their own hands.