(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Why We’re Backing This Gen-Z Democrat for Congress [1] ['Alliance American Leadership', 'Greg Dworkin'] Date: 2026-06-22 Our endorsement was featured in Florida Politics, Florida’s largest political newspaper. Elijah Manley represents the future of American politics. He is running for Congress in Florida’s 20th District, and he has put USAID at the center of his campaign. While Washington walks away from the world, Elijah is asking voters to lead it. He has signed the Alliance for American Leadership’s Two Penny Pledge – committing to spend two percent of the federal budget on diplomacy, development, and humanitarian aid. That is a foreign policy built on peace instead of war. Send Elijah to Congress As Elijah put it: “South Florida is the gateway to the rest of the world. It matters for trade, for immigration and for our economy. What’s happening in Haiti and Venezuela shows why the United States must lead on the global stage, not just through military force, but by supporting people who are going through the struggle.” This is the choice in front of us. We can keep cutting the programs that feed the hungry and steady our allies, or we can send people to Congress who will bring them back. Elijah is one of those people. You are the reason he can win. Alliance 4 American Leadership youth canvassers are knocking doors every day in the Florida sun to turn out votes. But without your support, Elijah will not make it to the finish line. The election is August 18. If you believe in leaders who invest in peace instead of war, and food instead of bombs and bullets, chip in to Elijah’s campaign today at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/manley-all Support Elijah Manley In his own words: Elijah Manley The following first appeared on Elijah Manley’s Substack. Subscribe to Elijah’s Substack here. I’m a Black, Gay, Gen-Z Democrat running for Congress in Ron DeSantis’ Florida. Here’s why. I got into this fight for many reasons. But it really is a personal one for me. It wasn’t long ago when my family and I were living in cars, couch-surfing, or staying in storage facilities. We’d shower at the beach in the morning before the sun came out and then head to school. You see, we had been evicted from our home due to what is broadly known as the “2008 financial crisis”. As a kid, I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the time, but I do remember how I felt. The uncertainty. The trauma. I was scared. Around that time, Obama was running for President and he had just won his election. I remember election night vividly, as well as how I felt that night. I felt hopeful. Like things were going to turn around. As time went on and we struggled more, I quickly learned that hope alone would not shield us from reality: we were homeless and no matter how hard my single mother worked, she just couldn’t catch up. Send Elijah to Congress Things got better. We got lucky. As I grew older, I became more and more angry. Angry because my childhood had been robbed from me, not because of my lack of hard work (I was a kid), or my mother’s (she worked three jobs), but because the government was serving the wealthy and not caring about working families like mine. So, I got into politics at an early age. I ran for school board in Broward in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting in our school district. LOST. For state house. LOST. For state house again. Almost won, OOF. And then 2024 happened. Trump is back. My heart was pounding the night he won. I called out of work the next day and I laid in bed the entire day, unable to move. “My country. What is happening to my country. We have no future.” I murmured those words hundreds of times. All I could think about were my nieces, my nephews, my students, and the terrors of the world that they were about to experience. I got out of bed the following day to return to work. I was angry. And all I could feel was the anger I felt years prior when I was a homeless kid. I stared at my students, and all I could think the entire day was “what are we doing?”. The Democratic Party was in shambles, with no real plan to combat the incoming Trump administration. “We’re putting together a task force to see what can be done” was what I heard one of our leaders say on TV. And I was livid. My blood was boiling. So, I decided I was going to law school once I completed my last undergrad classes. At least I thought so. And then my friend Luc called. “Hey, you should consider running. I think you’re exactly the right person for this district and for this moment.” I protested it profusely for a while. I had run for office before. I did not have the time for it. I was planning on law school and had other opportunities opening for me. I was about to start my own restaurant business. But then I started to read up on the incumbent for my district and the investigation surrounding her, and it sealed the deal. And then I announced. Invest in Gen Z We surprised people. In just 55 days, we raised $275,000, when the cycle hadn’t even started yet. People from all over the country (YOU) started pouring in small dollar donations. To date, we’ve raised nearly $700,000 from over 20,000 individual donors from every state and territory in the United States of America, out-raising and outspending the incumbent. I’m in this fight with you because I just want to make things work. Everything’s broken. A rigged economy. An out of control housing market. A healthcare system designed to make billionaires more profit. And certainly our Democracy is threatened daily. I could not sit by and watch ICE raids tear families apart, and Democrats wait for someone else to tell us what to do. Our people can no longer afford to live in the communities they grew up in anymore. Donald Trump is on some dictator “type-shii” as my students would say. Our allies are running away from us. We’re threatening to invade countries and start wars. New technologies are being created that require new people who understand them to regulate them. We have a climate crisis. Conflicts are appearing across the globe. Now more than ever, our people need a voice in Congress, and I am offering my talents and my time to the people of Florida’s 20th Congressional District. Support Elijah Manley Florida’s the frontline of the fight. People keep writing Florida off. “It’s too red. It’s far gone. It’s not worth the investment.” When did Democrats become so lazy? Georgia was once red. We flipped it and elected Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate, and it gave Joe Biden 270 votes in 2020. But for Georgia, it was a long road, filled with intensive, deep, intentional organizing. It didn’t happen overnight. Lest we forget, Obama won Florida twice, and we had a Democratic U.S. Senator until 2018. DeSantis only won this state by 30,000 votes in 2018. To rebuild Florida, we’re going to have to pour our resources into down-ballot races, and support the right candidates. While my District is safe blue (as of now, let’s see what redistricting does), the rest of the state is not. Our state needs leaders who can build infrastructure quickly. This is where I come in. To rebuild Florida, we have to invest in the next generation of leaders who can turn out voters, and win young voters in our state. Florida’s the frontline of this fight because it is the cesspool that has produced the Washington swamp that is controlling our country. Republicans have rigged the elections here, attacked women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights, rigged the maps, and attacked the judiciary. Every authoritarian, fascist idea you can think of that Trump’s doing, it has a footprint in Florida. To put a stop to the MAGA agenda, we have to crush the MAGA extremist agenda in Florida, and it starts in South Florida. Florida’s 20th District can be a test case of what’s possible when Democrats dream big, think bolder, and act even bigger. We don’t have to settle for the status quo, or the same run-of-the-mill establishment candidates, or even carpetbaggers looking for a seat. Our people are poor, and they need real help. Our district is a microcosm of the nation at-large. Ignore Florida at our own peril. Send Elijah to Congress [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/22/800059155/community/why-were-backing-this-gen-z-democrat-for-congress/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/