Millennials on the Rise Report 2022

O N T H E R I S E
T H E M O S T C O M P R E H E N S I V E D A T A
O N Y O U N G P E O P L E R U N N I N G F O R
C O N G R E S S I N 2 0 2 2
NOVEMBER 2022

Intro
Candidate Count
Millennial Incumbents
INDEX
About MAP
Methodology
Partisan Breakdown
Gender Breakdown
MAP's Congressional
Future Caucus
2022 Overview
Geographic
Why It Matters
Distribution

<strong>Millennials</strong> and Gen Zers are transforming our politics. In the
2022 edition of our <strong>Millennials</strong> on the Rise report, we tracked the
young people stepping forward to run for Congress and bring
generational change to Washington.
At Millennial Action Project, we believe in the power of the next
generation to improve how our nation governs. Our audacious
mission centers on activating young leaders to bridge the
partisan divide and transform American politics. The numbers in
this report prove that change is already underway. With one out
of every six candidates for Congress this cycle coming from the
millennial generation - a 57% increase in the number of
millennial candidates compared to 2020 - it's clear young
Americans are running toward what needs to be fixed, not away
from it.
I N T R O
<strong>Millennials</strong> on the Rise is an effort to better understand the
trends and demographics behind the rising generation of leaders,
because these are the leaders who will shape our future.
Sincerely,
Layla Zaidane
CEO & President of Millennial Action Project
Layla Zaidane,
MAP President & CEO

MILLENNIAL ACTION PROJECT
Our Mission
The Millennial Action Project has an audacious mission:
activate young leaders to bridge the partisan divide
and transform American politics.
Our Work
The Millennial Action Project works directly with our
nation’s leading young policymakers on both a national and
state level to bridge the partisan divide and lead a new era
of collaborative governance. As a national, nonpartisan
nonprofit dedicated to activating Millennial and Gen Z
policymakers, MAP gives our nation’s young leaders the
resources and support to develop and pass innovative
policy solutions — and forge productive partnerships on the
issues affecting the youngest generations of Americans.

M E T H O D O L O G Y
In assembling data for this report, lists of November 8,
2022 candidates were obtained from each
State/Territory's Secretary of State website, or when not
available from Ballotopedia. Write-in candidates and
those deemed multiple decades older than 45 were
eliminated from data collection. Ages were then obtained
from proprietary candidate surveys distributed by MAP as
well as publicly available information: a combination of
Wikipedia pages, campaign websites, news articles,
social media profiles, and a Radaris search. When Radaris
was used, all available information (e.g., current location
and location history, family members, educational
history, etc.) was used to narrow down searches that
yielded multiple people. Candidates for whom we could
not confidently conclude an age are not included in these
numbers.

2 0 2 2 E L E C T I O N S
A T A G L A N C E
GEN Z VOTERS
MILLENNIAL VOTERS
13.5% of the electorate
27% of the electorate
*Data source: Center for American Progress. Eligible Gen Z voters are an estimate based on 2020 and 2024 projections.

Candidate Count
334 193 91
Age 45 or younger
"True" <strong>Millennials</strong>
Age 35 or younger
There are 334 candidates for the U.S. House and
Senate who are age 45 or younger, the cutoff for
membership in MAP's network. Sometimes
referred to as "Xennials," lawmakers aged 42-45
represent a shift towards youth political
leadership in a world where the average age of
the U.S. House is 59 years old.
This report defines true millennials as a
person born between 1981 and 1996.
While there is only a four year gap
between candidates aged 45 and true
millennials, this distinction marks a
disproportionate decrease. Of the 334
total candidates, only 193 are true
millennials.
The 91 candidates under age 35 are
made up of 89 true millennials and two
Gen Z candidates. While people under
age 35 represent 63% of the millennial
generation, only 46% of millennials
running are under 35.
Two Gen Z candidates are on the ballot for the first

Increase in Candidates
Aged 45 and Under
42%
COMPARISON TO
2020
Increase in "True"
Millennial Candidates
From 2020 to 2022, there was a
42% increase in candidates aged 45
and under running for Congress.
This includes a 57% increase for
true Millennial candidates (born
between 1981 and 1996).
57%

Of the candidates for the U.S. House and
Senate in 2022, approximately 27% are 45
and under, 16% are <strong>Millennials</strong>, and 7.6% are
35 and under.
1 out of 6
Congressional candidates
nationwide are
<strong>Millennials</strong>

PARTISAN
BREAKDOWN
Republicans
36.8%
Democrats
39.3%
Slightly more young people are running
as Democrats than as Republicans.
Of the 334 candidates running for
Congress who are 45 or younger, 131
are Democrats, 123 are Republicans,
46 are Libertarians, 20 are
Independents or have no party
preference, and 14 belong to another
party.
Independents
6%
Other Party
4.2%
Libertarians
13.7%

GENDER BREAKDOWN
30.8% 68.9%
Women
Men
Of the 334 candidates running for Congress age 45 or
younger, 103 are women, 230 are men, and there is one nonbinary
candidate.
In 2020, 41% of the candidates age 45 and under were
women. In 2022, that number has dipped to just under 31%.

GEOGRAPHIC
DISTRIBUTION
The states with the greatest
number of young candidates
include Florida, California, Texas,
and New York.
This heat map shows the quantity
of candidates for the U.S. House
and Senate under the age of 45.

State Candidates State Candidates
Florida 28 Pennsylvania 9
California 26 Tennessee 9
Texas 24 Indiana 8
New York 21 Oklahoma 8
Colorado 15 Virginia 8
GEOGRAPHIC
DISTRIBUTION
Louisiana 14 Alabama 7
Michigan 12 Missouri 7
Illinois 11 North Carolina 7
This state-by-state breakdown
shows the quantity of candidates
for the U.S. House and Senate
under the age of 45.
New Jersey 11 Arizona 6
Ohio 11 Georgia 6

State Candidates State Candidates State Candidates
South Carolina 6 Utah 4 North Dakota 2
Washington 6 Hawaii 3 West Virginia 2
Maryland 5 Iowa 3 Wyoming 2
Massachusetts 5 New Mexico 3 Connecticut 1
Minnesota 5 Oregon 3 Delaware 1
Wisconsin 5 Vermont 3 Maine 1
Arkansas 4 Alaska 2 Nevada 1
Kansas 4 Idaho 2 South Dakota 1
Kentucky 4 Mississippi 2 Montana 0
New
Hampshire
4 Nebraska 2 Rhode Island 0

Sen. Jon Ossoff (GA) is the first
"true" Millennial elected to serve in the U.S.
Senate.
MILLENNIAL
INCUMBENTS
There are 67 incumbents who are 45 or younger.
Eight of them decided not to seek re-election,
and 4 were defeated in their primary. Three of
the 67 incumbents are in the Senate - Jon
Ossof (D-GA),
Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Of these 67, there are 33 incumbents who are
true <strong>Millennials</strong>. Four decided not to seek reelection,
and 3 lost their primaries, all of whom
are 35 or younger.

Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT)
Congressional Future Caucus Co-
Chair
CONGRESSIONAL
FUTURE CAUCUS
Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)
Congressional Future Caucus Co-
Chair
The Congressional Future Caucus (CFC) is our nation's first and only
bipartisan caucus for young members of Congress.
Members of the CFC come together to identify and enact solutions to
the problems facing America’s youngest generations. By convening
across the aisle and demonstrating a new political consciousness,
these legislators are breaking the status-quo of hyper-partisanship
and proving America’s next generation leads differently.

WHY IT
MATTERS
Young legislators are redefining how
America governs.
Younger legislators are leading the charge in finding common ground in the halls of Congress.
Members of the Millennial Action Project’s Congressional Future Caucus stand out as some of
the most collaborative members of Congress when it comes to working across the aisle,
according to the Lugar Center's most recent 2021 Bipartisan Index scores.
Despite common misconceptions about the partisanship of rising generations, Members 45
years old or younger have been scored as more bipartisan than their older peers for the last
three Congresses in a row. Both Republicans and Democrats in this cohort score above the
historical average for bipartisanship. As more young people join Congress, our country can
anticipate leaders who are willing to work collaboratively to solve our most pressing
problems.