NPR: A 25-year-old from a small town leads North Carolina’s Democratic Party toward 2024

09.6.2023 / By Elena Moore & Ximena Bustillo
NPR: A 25-year-old from a small town leads North Carolina's Democratic Party toward 2024

But to local organizers, like North Carolina-based Vashti Hinton-Smith from the left-leaning group Common Cause, this is an ongoing, long and hard fight. "I do wonder sometimes if it's too late," said Hinton-Smith, who runs Common Cause's civic engagement program at HBCUs within the state. Though she agrees with Clayton's youth outreach plan and remains cautiously optimistic, she said politicians need to play the long game in order to make change, which may require less focus on wins right now. "Let's also look four more years past," Hinton-Smith said, referring to the 2028 election. "What does that look like? How do we prepare for that?"

But to local organizers, like North Carolina-based Vashti Hinton-Smith from the left-leaning group Common Cause, this is an ongoing, long and hard fight.

“I do wonder sometimes if it’s too late,” said Hinton-Smith, who runs Common Cause’s civic engagement program at HBCUs within the state.

Though she agrees with Clayton’s youth outreach plan and remains cautiously optimistic, she said politicians need to play the long game in order to make change, which may require less focus on wins right now.

“Let’s also look four more years past,” Hinton-Smith said, referring to the 2028 election. “What does that look like? How do we prepare for that?”

 

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