Bay Area Democrat draws inspiration from family history to mobilize youth vote
A Young Democratic organizer in the Bay Area said she found inspiration from her own family history, and she is now trying to get teenagers involved in the political process.
Uma Krishnan has been involved in politics for several years, first working on the presidential campaigns for Hillary Clinton in 2016, then Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris.
As a Young Democrat, she co-founded the San Mateo Asian American Pacific Islander Alliance, serves on the Young Peninsula Democrats, and has taken a lead role for the South Asians for Harris.
"I realized I have a voice, I am intelligent and thought I need to use it," said Krishnan.
Her passion for politics is generational, stretching back to her native India in the early 1940s.
"My grandfather grew up under British Imperialism and he got involved with Gandhi's freedom-fighting movement," she said. "When he was 15 years old, he was arrested for being a freedom fighter."
Her grandfather, who passed away when she was 7 years old, still remains a major influence on her life.
"I think this kind of revolutionary spirit is just nothing but inspiring," said Krishnan.
Today, she is now trying to inspire the next generation in the Democratic Party, a generation that found new excitement after Harris became the presidential nominee.
"I think we are seeing a huge resurgence in young voters," said Krishnan. "I think a lot of the youth were not particularly energized to vote for Biden."
This past weekend, she worked with young volunteers to set up text and phone banks in the battleground states.
"Three of them are high school kids. One of them is a college student and they are all far more articulate than I recall teenagers ever being," she said.
Abigail De Kosnik, an Associate Professor and Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media, said when Kamala Harris became the nominee, she noticed a wave of interest from young voters on social media including viral videos from the "Coconut Tree" memes and a tweet by British popstar Chari XCS declaring "Kamala is Brat."
"Kamala is brat means that she is fun and funny and a little messy and not all buttoned up and also deeply authentic and real, and completely herself and owning every part of herself, even if she makes the mistakes, even if it, isn't perfect all the time. And so that's the brat girl, and that's Kamala Harris," said De Kosnik.
And then, an endorsement from the biggest pop star in the world, Taylor Swift only added to youth wave.
"That was a hugely important endorsement for the Harris-Walz campaign," said De Kosnik.
According to a Harvard Youth poll, there is more enthusiasm among young Democrats than Republicans. 74 percent of young Democrats say they will "definitely" vote compared to 60 percent of young Republicans.
And social media is playing a role in the election with 53 percent of young adults seeing memes about Harris last month, with 34 percent saying it positively influenced their opinion. Conversely, 56 percent have seen memes about former President Donald Trump, with 26 percent reporting it had a negative impact on their perception.
While Uma has seen a rise in young voters, either with volunteering or donating money in the Democratic Party, she remains cautiously optimistic.
"Because I do know that a lot of the youth don't turn out. It is my hope that they will, but I really think we won't know until say, Nov. 5," said Krishnan
