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I'm a Gen Z Candidate Rising to the Challenge of Florida [1]

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Date: 2024-06-07  

My name is Jonathon Chavez, and I am proudly running as a gen Z candidate for office in Florida. As a young activist in the sunshine state, I have found no shortage of issues to organize for in my community in recent years. There is a massive disconnect between the ruling arch-conservative elites in my state, and the vision that young people have for a progressive, inclusive Florida.

I led a Friday’s for Future climate strike at my high school, yet my state just moved to eliminate all mention of climate change from its books. I stood with my peers in numerous protests against gun violence in schools following the Parkland shooting, yet my state has prioritized passing unsafe gun laws such as permitless carry. I demonstrated every day in the heat of the Tampa Bay summer last year for weeks straight when Roe v. Wade was overturned, and yet my state has moved to enact a near total ban on abortion.

It is precisely this disconnect that has pushed me and so many other young people to become increasingly involved in politics. It spurred me to create a thriving College Democrats club at the University of South Florida while being the first in my family to attain a college degree. It led me to organize with students at other universities statewide to oppose governor DeSantis’s efforts to convert our schools into conservative propaganda machines. It has led me to canvass and door knock and phone bank for democratic candidates and causes at all levels of office.

But as long as change remains elusive in my community and in my state, those things are not enough. I, like so many young people in my state, am tired of making appeals to politicians who have made a career out of supporting wealthy special interests, only to have our messages be ignored, our causes mocked, and our protests increasingly suppressed. The time has come for to take my activism off of the streets and into the boardroom.

That is why I am proudly running for local office. My generation is done asking for change, it’s our time to MAKE change. Not only would my election flip my county government blue, I would be the first Gen Z candidate elected as commissioner at a time when a fresh, sustainable development oriented mindset is needed more than ever.

Right now, I am the only democrat registered in my race, challenging an incumbent who faced no democratic challenger last cycle. I need YOUR help to meet my qualification fee so I can continue to stand at the forefront of change in my community.

SUPPORT JONATHON.

CONNECT WITH THE CAMPAIGN.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/7/2245344/-I-m-a-Gen-Z-Candidate-Rising-to-the-Challenge-of-Florida?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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