How a Broward County teen organized hundreds of young DNC delegates during a pandemic

Alex Daugherty, Miami Herald•August 17, 2020


Like most high school seniors, Joseph Mullen had a lot of time on his hands this spring.

As the coronavirus pandemic began to close schools across Florida in March, the Broward County 18-year-old — who had become increasingly interested in the politics of climate change, gun violence and education policy — filled out a form to run as a delegate for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Though Sanders dropped out and the Democratic National Convention — which began Monday — is now all virtual, Mullen never stopped his online work to connect with other young delegates.

The group he started in May, The Young Delegates Coalition, now has about 225 members. Most are Sanders supporters, though the group includes delegates for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden along with delegates for former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.

And now Mullen, a Weston resident and Cypress Bay High School graduate who will attend Cornell University this fall, will be virtually voting on the platform and for the 2020 nominee this week at the convention, along with the members of the group.

“A lot of people see it as a ceremonial opportunity, but delegates have power. Young people realize there’s power there,” Mullen said. “The pandemic and things being virtual have allowed a lot of young people to be involved.”

The Young Delegates Coalition has worked together to advocate for certain policy changes within the Democratic Party like legalizing marijuana and eliminating student loan debt. And they’ve also pushed for the DNC to include more speakers who they say represent the future of the party, arguing that young elected officials like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should get more speaking time than former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich.

Mullen has a unique perspective as the only Sanders delegate from Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, which is represented by former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schulz stepped down as DNC chair during the 2016 convention after Sanders supporters objected to her handling of the 2016 primary.

“People have to overcome the perception of the DNC as not being friendly to young people,” Mullen said. “My hope is the DNC can live up to its name and be more democratic. This year there has been a lot more of an effort to unite the party and focus on beating Donald Trump.”

Anthony Santiago, a 19-year-old Biden delegate from Kissimmee, started talking with Mullen on Twitter in May. They expanded their discussion on WhatsApp to include other young delegates, ranging in age from 18 to 35, and later moved the conversation to Slack, a virtual chat tool frequently used in workplaces.

Within the Slack group, different young delegates have worked together on press releases or policy memos before presenting their work to the entire Young Delegates Coalition for approval.

“Our main goal is to get young people involved in politics and voting,” Santiago said. “And in the future, if this stays together, we can elect our young delegates for local office.”

Though Mullen and Santiago represent different candidates, they both praised the Biden campaign’s work with Sanders delegates and commitment to policies like making public college tuition free for students from families with incomes up to $125,000.

“Biden has been moving farther left in his policies in a good way, I believe,” Santiago said. “He’s going for a free four-year public college, which I believe is a good thing to do. I believe he is indeed actually trying to get these [young] votes and earn these votes.”

Sabrina Javellana, the 22-year-old vice mayor of Hallandale Beach and a Sanders delegate, said the Biden and Sanders delegates in the group “haven’t really had any animosity.”

“We’re always talking in our Slack channel about totally different things,” Javellana said. “If there’s an issue we think would polarize one group of delegates or another, we don’t touch it.”

Biden has 2,629 pledged delegates heading into the convention, a figure that dwarfs the Young Delegates Coalition’s numbers and Sanders’ 1,038 delegates. While many Sanders delegates plan to vote against the DNC’s policy platform this week, their efforts will be mostly symbolic.

Javellana said the virtual convention and organizing effort are helping to grow the party’s next generation — and that young people can participate at a higher rate than under normal circumstances.

“The pandemic, and all the awful things that come with it, have it made it easier for us to participate,” Javellana said “Being on a video chat is so much easier for young people, and a lot of high schoolers and college students have been home. While older folks that aren’t as tech savvy are struggling with Zoom or struggling to create a Facebook page, we’ve been pushing candidates through Instagram stories.”

Zenaida Huerta, a 21-year-old member of the coalition and a Sanders delegate from California who also represented the Vermont senator at the 2016 convention, said she thinks members of the group will use their political experience as a springboard to a career in politics.

“There are young people and young delegates who have really interesting stories and who I know for certain at the next convention are going to be members of Congress or building the bench of this party,” Huerta said.