Democrats can’t seem to lose right now. Since President Biden’s surprise withdrawal, Kamala Harris has gained momentum and inspired hope for a party stuck in perpetual malaise. While the vice president can (and should) ride this wave through the convention and into the early voting period, one glaring blind spot remains.
Young men ages 18-29 — my voting demographic — have migrated to the Republican Party en masse in recent election cycles. From the Trump-Clinton race to 2023, the percentage of these voters that identify or lean Democrat has plummeted from 51 percent to 39 percent. Harris’s accession to the presidential ticket hasn't reversed this trend, either — between July and August 2024, young women in battleground states swung 28 points toward her, but young men moved by only 2 points.
Competing theories for this tectonic shift abound, from young men feeling unduly threatened by the left’s embrace of the #MeToo movement to a justified gripe that Democrats have deliberately ignored my demographic.
A proper explanation would recognize that young men face an unstable economic future marked by deindustrialization and a social landscape in which leaders are (rightfully) prioritizing overdue women’s rights. This explanation would also note that conservative commentators — Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, for example — have seized this disenchantment to denigrate the left and promote a new form of manhood. These figures diverge in their prescriptions for the modern male, but they are united by a longing for traditional gender roles. Shapiro has lambasted the sexual revolution for “destroying” men. Carlson, over a decade ago, called women "primitive," "basic, and "not that hard to understand," and claimed that they smell weakness on men "like dogs" do.
The Trump-Vance ticket has amplified such messaging. From JD Vance’s rants about childless cat ladies to Trump marching out to “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” at the Republican National Convention, the GOP is deliberately expanding upon Trump’s macho worldview rooted in a long history of disparaging women. So far, Democrats have failed to develop a compelling alternative.
Enter Tim Walz, the party’s (not so) secret weapon to winning over everyone from Midwestern farmers to TikTok-ing Gen Z-ers.
“America’s dad” is a former teacher and veteran who proved that progressive bread-and-butter policies can build coalitions in traditionally red districts, best evidenced by his 2006 congressional victory. Walz has injected energy into an already-buzzing campaign, and down-ballot candidates are champing at the bit to share a campaign stage with him.
It’s no surprise that Walz boasts a particular appeal among young voters. The Minnesota governor knows a thing or two about working with my demographic; after all, his own students convinced him to run for office almost two decades ago.
Nonetheless, in an election likely to be decided within the margins, Democrats have not seemed to fully grasp the governor’s potential powers. In the contest for young men, Coach Walz has an opportunity and an obligation to address young male grievances and provide a powerful contrast to the harmful masculinity represented by the Trump-Vance ticket.
I will leave it to Walz to define his specific contours of healthy masculinity. Nonetheless, his record illuminates that he would unequivocally advocate for defending one’s values, even at a social cost.
Walz could unapologetically endorse his gun-slinging persona that also supports common-sense restrictions. He could defend his decision to advise his high school’s first gay-straight alliance in 1999, when it was far less socially acceptable to do so (particularly as the football coach). He could double down on his state’s distribution of free menstrual products across Minnesota schools in 2023, legislation that has earned him the label “tampon Tim” from the GOP. And yes, Walz’s masculinity would proudly embrace that a Black woman is taking the reins on the campaign trail.
Democrats have a moral and strategic imperative to promote Walz’s embodiment of empathetic and principled masculinity as a stark contrast to the bullying chauvinism of the Trump-Vance candidacy. Yet, this is only half the battle.
Democrats must also provide a policy blueprint that confronts the economic and mental health concerns acutely felt by this demographic. Candidates should highlight President Biden’s signed legislation that promotes workforce development and expands manufacturing jobs while speaking to proposals for 2025 forward. Democrats must also acknowledge the continued stigma around mental illness that plagues my demographic and can manifests itself in the ugliest fashion: a high suicide rate.
Above all, the Harris-Walz ticket must be willing to lend an ear and directly engage young men. Republicans are dominating today’s messaging contest largely because the opposing party simply has not shown up. Democrats should not mimic the sensationalistic and fearmongering tactics often employed by conservative media; far from it. However, the party does have a responsibility to offer an alternative to the dangerous masculinity presented today through targeted engagement on multimedia and the campaign trail.
In an election once again divided between hope and fear, Democrats must engage all voters in its forward march. Tim Walz has a unique opportunity to mobilize my demographic and to serve as a role model for those seeking one.
The campaign to win back young men may be an uphill battle, but it’s a battle worth fighting.
Charlie Sabgir is a 2024 graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the founder of Georgetown Political Strategy, a student-led organization that provides pro-bono advisory services to candidates, nonprofits and activist organizations across the U.S.
