The average lawmaker in the General Assembly seems to be shifting towards a younger demographic, and many of the younger lawmakers are quickly climbing the ranks.
The youngest lawmakers in the legislature include Sen. Dave Craven, R-Anson; at 33, he is the youngest senator presently serving in that chamber. Other lawmakers under 40 include Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, presumed to be next Speaker of the House; Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Henderson, co-chair of Committee on Oversight and Reform; Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics Committee; Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash; Rep. Terry Brown, D-Mecklenburg, and Rep. Jarrod Lowery, R-Robeson, vice chairman of Federal Relations and American Indian Affairs committee.
Rep. Heather Rhyne, R-Lincoln, appointed to the House last month, adds another young lawmaker to the mix.
“It’s been a pleasure to see the way they’ve continued to make names for themselves and will continue to serve for years to come,” Anna Marsh, a Raleigh political consultant, told the Carolina Journal. “I think it was also a sign of incoming young legislators as we watched Wyatt Gable, a college student, unseat incumbent George Cleveland, all by relying on labor from his college peers, putting them to work to phonebank and knock doors.”
Gable upset Cleveland in the 2024 Republican primary by 2%. He will face off against Democratic opponent, Carmen Spicer, in this November’s general election. If he wins, he’d be the youngest state lawmaker at 21.
Not quite as wet behind the ears, Rep. Allen Chesser, told the Carolina Journal that, despite being in his first term, no one has treated him “like a young whippersnapper or like I had a lot to learn. Everyone has been pretty welcoming.”
Chesser said he believes the legislature will lean even younger next year.
“I think this is one of those transitional periods where you get a little bit of a generational shift,” continued Chesser. “That seems to happen every 10-12 years or so; you get a new wave of people that come through.”
The consensus, both internally from lawmakers and those looking in from the outside, seems to be that the General Assembly is leaning younger. For many, that’s a welcome sign. Carolina Journal spoke with insiders to explore why they believe this shift is taking place.
“I think younger people have an advantage, as we’ve grown up in the age of technology, where it can be used to obtain information much quicker and also be used to communicate and organize at a much faster rate, giving younger people an advantage in some races as they can get their message out to more voters on their own, saving some of that cost vs. hiring expensive firms to do that work for them,” said Marsh. “I see plenty of older legislators with an abundance of energy, but the resilience of the younger, highly ambitious, hardworking candidates in their 20s-30s is sometimes hard to compete with.”
While modern times have stressed the importance of diversity, young lawmakers definitely bring that to the General Assembly. But the pipeline needs to be filled constantly, and Marsh emphasized the importance of more people under 40 running to public office.
“It’s important to have a large spread of demographics, backgrounds, and opinions, and that’s what keeps our democracy and conversations healthy,” said Marsh.
It’s not quite as simple as filing at the local board of elections and coasting into office, though. Demands on state lawmakers time are substantial, despite its “part-time” label, and the pay is miniscule. The common result is younger, less affluent citizens, simply cannot afford to run.
“I think the general public sometimes struggles to understand why it is that legislators tend to be older, as established businessmen and businesswomen, or those who are retired are often the only ones who can afford to be in Raleigh working so tirelessly,” said Marsh. “Few realize how much legislators get paid to be at the NCGA. It would be hard for any young person to work in a professional environment to afford the bare necessities of living, especially these days, even some with young families, while only making $13,000/year as a legislator, but the conversation of increasing legislative pay is one no one wants to have in fear of blowback from voters who don’t understand that.”
Speaking from personal experience, Chesser, a father of four, echoed this sentiment.
Life and bills don’t wait just because you’ve been elected. Most younger lawmakers still work a regular job, take their kids to dance recitals, soccer practice, and everything else, while sustaining their marriages, too. The older generation of lawmakers has the advantage, usually, of being financially well-off and/or retired; their kids are grown, or at least mostly grown, and families well-established.
“I just like the diversity of ideas,” said Chesser of having more young minds in the legislature. “It’s having that iron sharpens iron mentality, and if everyone is 100% in lockstep with life experience and ideas, you never really grow, and no one ever challenges you. If the other side is constantly challenging you, you put the shield up and ignore it. But if people within your own caucus or on your team are challenging your ideas, you are more likely to sit down and have a conversation about it, and I think that’s how we grow.”
“It’s so important to have a healthy spread. North Carolina is a diverse community with thousands of people moving in daily, of all ages,” added Marsh. “The advantages of the presence of a younger demographic are a fresh perspective and an updated understanding of hard-to-swallow issues. The disadvantages can be institutional knowledge that can sometimes be helpful, where the older demographic can come into play. While inevitable, there are many instances where we do NOT want history to repeat itself, but that comes with fresh perspectives and historical insight within a healthy balance of young and old.”
While young lawmakers certainly bring a lot to the table, Chesser pointed out that freshman lawmakers also have certain things to learn from an older demographic.
“Law is not made through social media posts,” quipped Chesser. “It’s a slow, deliberate process. It is not, and should not, be an impulsive process. We [younger people] tend to believe that everything should be immediate. I think the older generation understands this should be a slow, deliberate process where you check for unintended consequences before signing off on something.”
it is a two way street, however, as Chesser addressed what older lawmakers can learn from the young.
“Change isn’t always bad,” he said. “We get stuck in traditions and preferences and want to resist change at every corner; it’s just human nature. Not all change is bad, and we can learn to interact with people from a different generation.”