A few California governor candidates are targeting young voters in their campaigns, particularly through social media and college organizations. Despite making up one-fifth of the state's voting population, most Gen Z Californians won't vote in the June 2 primary.
Young voters in California are often disillusioned with politics, but a few governor candidates are targeting them in their campaigns, particularly through social media and college organizations .
Despite making up one-fifth of the state's voting population, most Gen Z Californians won't vote in the June 2 primary, which is stacked with several gubernatorial candidates. The primary election tees up the ballot in November, which will also host other high-profile races and issues, such as the rest of the executive candidates, as well as propositions like the Generation Z, or those aged 14 to 29, makes up nearly 21% of eligible California voters, but their historical turnout is disproportionately low compared to the general voting population.
Young voters aren't necessarily checked out. Rinu Nair, the president of the History and Civic Engagement Club at De Anza College in Cupertino, said that the student club's meeting on the gubernatorial race drew the most participants of any meeting this year: 20. But students were often disillusioned by each candidate having a history of controversial actions. There's an interest, but also that feeling of, 'Am I doing what I want to do?
Can my vote even make a change?
' Nair said. (Young people) don't feel represented in politics but they feel like it's a duty they have to do. In a statewide survey published by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies in May, voters aged 18 to 29 polled similarly to all voters on reasons why they may not vote in the primary election. But a few reasons jumped out in particular.
Of young voters who said they were unlikely to vote, 47% said they are not well-informed enough on the issues and candidates, compared to 38% of total unlikely voters. Another difference was that 31% of young voters said they were too busy, compared to 19% of all unlikely voters.
Cost of living and inflation, healthcare and housing costs are the top three issues Gen Z voters are tracking leading up to the 2026 midterms, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a nonpartisan research organization based at Tufts University in Boston. Jobs and unemployment and immigration ranked fourth and fifth among survey respondents respectively. CalMatters reached out to gubernatorial candidate front-runners to learn more about their methods for engaging youth voters.
Steve Hilton, Chad Bianco, Tony Thurmond and Matt Mahan's teams did not respond. Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview that he hired a diverse staff of people primarily aged 22 to 26 to help him connect better with youth voters. Katie Porter and Tom Steyer said they have visited many college campuses across the state in an effort to connect with young voters.
Maiya De La Rosa, the president of California Young Democrats, a youth organizing group affiliated with the state Democratic Party, said that Xavier Becerra has visited and formed relationships with more Young Democrats chapters across the state than any other candidate, having visited 30 chapters since July 2025. She said that the organization endorsed him because of that strong relationship as well as his policies.
He's made a really big effort to put college students at the front of his campaign, said Daniel Guerrero, the organization's president and incoming senior at UC San Diego. We believed in his message, and it's been really rewarding to see everyone else see what we saw in him, especially in the young community. Steyer and Becerra have both been using short videos and partnerships with content creators to reach young audiences.
Both are caught up in allegations of content creators failing to disclose that campaigns had paid for their endorsements. The influencers often posted endorsements without disclaimers that they had been paid. According to each candidate's endorsement pages (except Hilton, who does not have one), Becerra has the most endorsements from youth groups - 15 total, mostly consisting of Young Democrats and College Democrats chapters. Steyer has three youth group endorsements and Thurmond has one.
Peter Opitz, a representative for Porter, said she is endorsed by UAW and Teamsters, which contain unions that represent workers and educators in higher education. A strong social media presence has been integral to reaching young voters - and any voter - in a race where it's difficult to stand out.
Even so, California Assemblymember Alex Lee, who has endorsed Steyer, said in an interview that he believes social media strategy comes second to good policy, and that Democrats often get criticized for being boring online
California Governor Candidates Young Voters Social Media College Organizations
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