Millennials are running for office in Wisconsin, bucking stereotypes

Young people across the country are running for local office, fueled by their desire to be represented in politics and in their own communities. In Wisconsin, many voters who go to the polls in Tuesday's local elections will have an option to put a member of a new generation on school boards, city councils or county boards.

The oldest millennials are now in their late 30s, according to the PEW Research Center, and the youngest are in their early 20s. 

RELATED: In-demand diesel techs fix big trucks all day

RELATED: YP groups expand definition of 'professional'

Alyson Leahy is on Tuesday's ballot for the Marathon County Board. The 31-year-old decided to take action after the 2016 election.

"I was disappointed in the outcome, the rhetoric and the whole two-year long campaign," she said. "It was just disappointing to see that much negativity." 

So Leahy, 31, signed up for a program called Emerge Wisconsin, a Democratic organization that trains women to run for office. She said she's found people are ready for younger leaders to step up and take the reins. 

"A lot of the doors I've knocked on, people have commented that younger people need to get in there," she said. "They're open to newer people." 

Ed Miller, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, said dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump is a big factor driving younger candidates to run across Wisconsin and across the nation. 

Derek Woellner, who's running for mayor in Merrill, was inspired to run when he didn't see himself in candidates who had previously sought office. 

"A lot of people in their mid-20s have the same ideas, like that government should work for you, and transparency," he said. 

Woellner said a new generation in office can bring fresh perspective to policymaking.

"There's a possibility of new ideas," he said. 

Bob Baker, 30, who was elected to the Appleton City Council last year, said he's sometimes faced opposition because he's younger and hasn't been on the Council for as long as some of the other members. 

"I'm the younger guy who comes in with ideas," he said. "There isn't a lot of turnover, so we have a group of eight to 10 people who have been on for a decade or more. So a lot of times, it's just breaking into that group." 

But he said the experience has been worth it and that he plans to run for re-election when his term is up. 

GET THE NEWSLETTER:Opportunity Knocks is our weekly newsletter on Wisconsin business news you can use. Sign up here.

Vanya Koepke, 25, said he's faced more blatant judgement because of his age while campaigning for the Green Bay City Council. 

"There's genuine concern about a person so young running," he said. "But the people closer to my age, millennials, are on board." 

Koepke made it through the city's primaries in February, beating out three others. He's hoping that with a win on Tuesday, he'll show other young professionals that running for an office isn't an unachievable goal. 

"Younger candidates are demystifying running for office," he said. "Now people are seeing really how easy it is to get involved."

This isn't the first time that the U.S. has seen such an upswing in younger candidates, said Miller. In the 1960s and 1970s, many young people ran for office because they didn't see their views on the Vietnam War or civil rights represented. 

"A number of people involved in those movements ran for office," Miller said.

This is the most modern movement that the country has seen, though, and it's included a lot more women, Miller said. In part, it's thanks to organizations like Emerge America and Emily's List, which help women learn about campaigning, and more recently organizations that provide support to both genders of young people, like Run for Something. 

Many organizations that have sprung up to help young candidates with a bid for office are more liberal, supporting Democratic politicians. That's not surprising, since data shows younger people tend to hold more liberal political views. Fifty-four percent of millennials identify as liberal or moderately liberal, while only 33 percent identify as conservative or moderately conservative, according to Pew Research Center.

Though Tuesday's elections are nonpartisan, local races are often a way for activists to get involved at the ground floor.

Ross Morales Rocketto, one of the co-founders of Run for Something, said that the U.S. is probably going to see the average age of elected officials dropping over the next few years, as more young individuals step forward. And it won't exactly be governors or the position of the president that the change starts with, it's local city councils, school boards and county boards, where candidates talk about local issues like potholes and snow removal, he said. 

"It makes a really good entry point into the process," Morales Rocketto said. "Being able to connect with voters on a level of local politics."