A new generation, organized.
Elect the
future.
Next Gen Dems finds and backs the next generation of progressive candidates — the leaders who can carry the party into a realistic future, starting on the ground floor of their campaigns.
We champion the next generation of progressive candidates who can actually lead the party forward — people of every background and age, including the ones who've been told to wait their turn.
We search across America, and right here at home in Kentucky, for leaders who care more about getting something real done than landing a good slogan. The future runs on people who think differently, listen better, and aren't married to how it's always been done — and that starts with the next generation.
The party gave up on these seats. You don't have to.
Walk into a deep-red county and look at the ballot. A lot of local races have one name on them. School board, county commission, clerk, a state house seat nobody bothered to contest. A Democrat conceded it before a single door got knocked. The party calls those places lost and spends its money somewhere safer. We call them the ground floor.
The seats a newcomer can actually win are the local and legislative ones. School board, city council, county commission, clerk, a statehouse district. That is exactly where the party in red territory has the least to offer. The machine that turns a willing person into a winning officeholder barely exists in places like ours. We exist to build it, and we read the terrain because we're Kentucky-grown. We know what it's like to be the only Democrat on the ballot, where running feels less like a campaign and more like a stand.
You don't flip a state from the top. You build it from the floor, one seat at a time. This is a decade-long bench-building project, not a one-election bet. Win or lose this cycle, you running pulls a conceded seat back into play. It puts a real Democrat in front of voters who haven't seen one in years. That is worth doing before anyone wins anything.
A seat with one name on the ballot isn't safe. It's surrendered.
We back leaders on the ground floor
Find the leaders
We mine the country — and our home state of Kentucky — for genuine people who care about the issues of those they seek to represent.
Back them early
We support candidates on the ground floor of their campaigns and help jumpstart their movements — when it matters most.
Power the change
We bring a generation's worth of volunteers and organizing muscle to take on entrenched leadership, locally and in Washington.
Every reason you've talked yourself out of running, and what we do about it
In red states, first-time candidates lose earlier and more often. Not because they're wrong for the job. The obstacles in front of a first-time red-state candidate are real, and almost none of them are about whether you're good enough. Most are logistics, money, and isolation. Those, we handle.
Money, and the cost of running at all
Running gets more expensive every cycle. The brutal part is what you give up to do it when you can't stop earning. Student debt, rent, no donor rolodex. You can pay yourself a salary from your campaign and cover childcare with campaign funds. It's legal, it's underused, and it's the line between who gets to run and who can't afford to. We build it into your plan from day one so running doesn't sink you.
Nobody knows your name yet
You start at zero. The incumbent doesn't, and that head start is most of the battle. Youth gets misread as inexperience. We treat being unknown as a problem you solve with data, digital, and a real field plan — so voters meet you on your terms, not your opponent's.
The know-how you were never handed
Ballot access, petitions, compliance, the voter file, vendors, field. Party-backed candidates inherit all of it through relationships you don't have. It's the most fixable gap there is, and it's the first thing we close. You won't be learning it the hard way in public.
Running alone until you burn out
Most first-timers run solo while holding down a day job. It grinds people down well before November. We put you in a peer cohort and connect you with people who have run before. The load gets shared. The isolation ends.
The cost of being an out Democrat here
In a deep-red community there's a real social and professional price to putting a D next to your name. The local press that used to build a candidate is thin or nationalized. We won't pretend that away. We help you tell your own story directly and reach voters without waiting for coverage that isn't coming. And we make sure you're not carrying it alone.
Your safety is an operating cost
Local candidates and officials face threats and harassment, and young women and candidates of color often get the worst of it. Safety planning and digital security aren't a luxury you get to once there's money left over. We treat them as part of the budget, because that's what they are.
"There is no template to follow, no model to copy, and no mold that could fit the herculean task ahead of us."
Candidates who refuse the status quo
Not satisfied with establishment politics
The leaders who are done with the decades of politics we've been stuck with — and ready to build something better.
Focused on real, tangible change
Concrete goals that make people's lives better — the kind you can point to, not just campaign on.
People who see where the party has to go
People who actually listen, who bring ideas the party hasn't tried, and who know the difference between wanting change and doing the work to get it.
You don't start from a blank page
Say yes and you won't get a pat on the back and a precinct map. You get the operation that doesn't exist out here, enough financial footing to keep going, and people who won't let you quietly disappear.
We de-risk the decision before you commit
An honest financial reality check and a plan to stay afloat. A straight read on whether your race is winnable now, winnable later, or worth running anyway to contest the seat. We won't dress it up. You'll know what you're walking into before you file.
We hand you the operational machine
Voter data and targeting. A website, digital, email, texting. Compliance tools. A small-dollar fundraising program. Reusable creative. The kind of apparatus party insiders inherit, built once and shared, so you're not inventing a campaign from scratch.
We keep you afloat and keep you safe
Small-dollar fundraising from day one. A candidate salary and childcare paid from campaign funds, treated as normal instead of whispered about. Digital-security and personal-safety support so you can run without risking your livelihood or your family.
We never let you disappear
Mentorship and a peer cohort so you're not running on an island. And if you lose, that's not the end of you with us. A candidate who came up short can come back as a mentor, a trainer, or staff for the next run. That's how you build a bench.
Yes, you. The teacher, the nurse, the veteran, the kid two years out of school.
The teacher who's done watching the school board get it wrong. The nurse who knows what the county actually needs. The veteran, the small-business owner, the recent grad who keeps waiting for someone better to run. You don't need permission from a party office, a donor rolodex, or a famous last name. We're not waiting for you to call a party office, because you never will. So we're asking you straight: run. The seat near you is more winnable than you've been told. Tell us you're thinking about it. We'll give you a straight answer about your seat and what it would take. If it's a fit, we'll write the first check the establishment won't.
And drop the "I'm too young." For almost every local seat and plenty of legislative ones, age is not the barrier. Many states let teenagers serve, and most local offices only ask that you're a registered voter. The real tripwires are technical: residency rules and filing deadlines. We'll walk you through both.
Tell us you're thinking about runningReaching out doesn't put you on a ballot. It starts a conversation. You don't need a war chest or a network, just the nerve to put your name down. Ask every hard question first. We'll answer them straight.
It starts with the next generation
Run for office
Thinking about running? We get behind first-time candidates early, when it counts most. Tell us your vision and let's get to work.
Tell us about your runVolunteer
Knock doors, register voters, and organize where you live. This is how races in places like ours actually get won.
Sign up to volunteerDonate
Every dollar goes to finding and launching the next generation of leaders. Chip in what you can.
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A seat conceded by default is a seat lost before a single vote.
You don't flip a state from the top. You build it from the floor.
Age is almost never the barrier. The filing deadline is.
Incumbents almost never lose. So we start earlier than anyone expects you to.
We back people for the long haul, not for one November.
A loss doesn't have to end a political life.
Get on the list
Be first to hear who we're backing and where your time and money matter most. We only email when there's something real to share.
A bench, not a bet
Most political money chases the race it can win this November and walks away from everything else. We're built to do the opposite. We back the first-time candidate in the seat a newcomer can actually win, in the place the party wrote off, and we keep backing them whether they win on the first try or the third.
A bench grows on itself. The teacher who runs for school board can be the statehouse candidate a few cycles later, and the trainer for the wave after that. Someone who came up short one year can be the reason the next person wins. You build power in hostile territory by keeping good people in the game long enough to take the places everyone called unwinnable. This is a decade-long project, and we mean to run it like one.
We back people for the long haul, not for one November.
Fund the future of the party.
Your support puts the next generation of progressive leaders on the ballot — in Kentucky and across America.