Welcome to Louisiana Lefty, a podcast about politics and community in Louisiana, where we make the case that the health of the state requires a strong progressive movement fueled by the critical work of organizing on the ground. Our goal is to democratize information, demystify party politics, and empower you to join the mission, because victory for Louisiana requires you.
On this week's episode, I host Cameron English, who's the outgoing Chair of College Democrats of Louisiana, to continue my series of conversations with young Democratic leaders on how we can best engage with voters in their age group. Cameron is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, challenging Louisiana's congressional districts map. Following release of the 2020 census data, Cameron, along with myself and a handful of other Democrats in the state, asked the court to declare Louisiana's current congressional district map unconstitutional, and implement a new map that adheres to the constitutional requirement of one person - one vote.
Cameron English! Thank you so much for joining me on Louisiana Lefty this week.
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited about this.
Well, I'm so happy to have you here. And I always start every episode with how I met my guest. Cameron, I don't think I've seen you in person, have I? Have we only ever met by Zoom?
I think so.
Was it the 2020 Democratic National Convention? That was our first interaction?
Yeah, so I think it was. We were both whips this year for the Democratic Convention. I think it was a few weeks before we probably met via Zoom.
Very good. Well, what got you interested in politics in the first place?
People always ask me this question. I don't ever have a direct answer. But I think it was President Obama's presidential campaign. I'm from the Chicagoland area. So I think it was a really big deal around then. I was like eight, so didn't really like fully understand politics. But just remember being really excited that he was running, and kind of fell in love ever since.
Ah, that's great. So you're at Xavier University right now. Right?
Yeah.
Is that when you move to New Orleans was for Xavier?
Yeah. So I moved to New Orleans to go to school. I just needed to change a pace and New Orleans is a great place to live.
Were you involved with the College Democrats the whole time you were there? Or did that come later?
So that came later. I really got involved sophomore year. My freshman year, College Dems of Louisiana was just starting to be built again in the state with Henry Walther. So he approached me in my sophomore year at a Democratic National Committee training event. And he was like, "I know that you're in college, I think you'd be great for this. You should run for an elected position." And my immediate response was like, "No, I don't want to ever run for elected office, not even an organization. Like, I just don't think that's my calling." He was, "You know, just think about it. Like, I'll give you a call a few days." And it couldn't get it out of my mind. I was like, "Why not?" So I ran for political director. And lost. But then nobody was running for communications director. So I just gave a floor speech, and won. And I've been hooked ever since.
That's very cool. And this year, you were the chair of College Democrats of Louisiana, right?
Yeah.
And we were talking before the episode, that COVID had some impact on your ability to work with College Democrats this year. But what were some of the other things that you did, before COVID sort of took over, that you thought were really impactful with College Democrats?
Probably in person conventions. It just gave college students a chance to network and get internship opportunities, and graduating seniors to network and get job opportunities. So I really miss that now that COVID is a thing and we can't get together all safely.
And what was the most exciting thing that you did in College Democrats, to you personally, not necessarily impactful, but exciting?
Two years ago, we hosted the national convention for College Democrats of America, at Tulane. And so I was communications director at the time, and we were the host state federation, so we got a lot of cool behind the scenes access. I have a picture with Stacey Abrams and Maxine Waters. The picture with Stacey Abrams, we were like, so there's security there and Tulane's campus police, but they needed additional help escorting her out, so like no other people would try to take pictures with her, and she just pulled us into a hallway and was like, "You guys can get a picture." It was like this 3o second thing. And we're all like kind of freaking out, because it was Stacey Abrams! And at the time, she was just coming off running for governor, and nobody kind of knew what she was doing next. But we all knew she was gonna have a big stake in our democracy. So that was really cool to rediscover this past fall.
Awesome. Are you interested in continuing in politics, now that you're leaving school?
Yeah. So my ultimate goal is just to be in the campaign world, and develop policy, I really like both. Just being on the ground and talking to voters has always been something I love to do. And in college, I got involved more on the policy side of things. And the legislative process is also really interesting to me.
Is there support that you think College Democrats of Louisiana could use from elected officials or organizations in the state, that you're not getting, that you'd like to put out there that would be helpful to the College Democrats' organizing efforts?
Yeah, so I would just encouraged elected officials to meet with all the chapters in their district. Young people have a lot to say. And sometimes when they just come to like, the top of the organization, our members feel like they're being left out. And it's only opportunities for the executive board. So look at all your local chapters, most of them are on Twitter. Somebody answers DMS, and will be more than happy to help. I think paid fellowships are always nice. I know all campaigns can't do that. But, even unpaid fellowships, some people appreciate that. I've done a couple in college, and that experience is invaluable to me. But yeah, just trusting young people, I think would be my biggest piece of advice.
Look, I think those paid internships and fellowships are important. And I know that Democrats don't tend to have the same amount of money Republican candidates do. But we're also trying to look at this now and say, well, we want to live our values. And if we are living our values, we do really need to pay people for the work that they do. And for people who don't have the privilege to be able to have an internship, because they need to make money in their job, we're really leaving people out of the process, if we're not offering payment to folks. So I think it's a really good point that you make.
Yes, yes, definitely.
What animates young voters in your opinion? I want to say I spoke to Frederick Bell a couple of episodes ago, and I wanted to make sure he understood I wasn't asking him to answer for everybody. This is just your piece of the puzzle, right, that you're adding to it. So is there something that you've come across that you've noticed that really animates young voters?
When we're heard. Like just you know, when we're listened to. For Adrian Perkins' campaign, this past fall, I had a lot of friends and like colleagues who were trusted with field organizing, and just a crucial part of that campaign. I was having meetings with the campaign team very early on, about what young people wanted, what were our top issues, kind of how to speak to younger voters. And I think a lot of people appreciated that when they went to the polls, because they felt like they were being heard, or they felt like somebody listened. And they weren't just lumped together with other young voters like, okay, these are the things that college students want and need. And these are things that like, graduating seniors want and need. And sometimes I feel like we tend to just get lumped in with, you know, people who are working and 20somethings, and I just say don't lump us in with other voters who happened to be young. But college students are a special demographic. They come from all over the country. So just listen and take time out to host special events for college students.
Very good. And so listening to college students and young voters is really important to find out what matters to them. Are there issues in particular that you think of that drive young voters to be more engaged?
Yeah, I think student debt is a big thing that's driving numbers to be more engaged right now. I know that many of the people who are graduating from the class of 2020 and class of 2021 are graduating into a slightly uncertain economy. So just like student debt loans, especially where most people are going on to get another degree, like the cumulation of both degrees, and student debt cancellation would be a huge thing for young voters. I also think that young voters are concerned about gun violence and just the rise of mass shootings. And yeah, I think those are the top two issues.
Would you consider yourself a progressive or more of a moderate Democrat?
I would say I'm more progressive leaning. I definitely probably started off as a more moderate Democrat, and then just with time and age and being in the world of politics a little bit more, I've definitely moved more towards the progressive side.
So one of the things we see for Democrats in general, but for progressive candidates in particular, we could really swing elections if we had a higher turnout rate for young voters. Is there any prescription that you see that would help with that? And I know, you've talked about making sure that they feel heard and making sure their issues are addressed. But is there any other hurdle that you think of that's stopping young voters from really basically taking their power, and changing the course of elections?
I know, for a lot of college students that I know, and this is changing in Louisiana over time, I think there's a bill that I had some friends working on, but just being able to use your college ID to vote, I think is a huge thing. Because a lot of people are here for four years, and I get a lot of people when I do voter registration drives who are like, "Oh, I would love to vote in Louisiana, but I don't have a permanent address, or I don't have an ID." And we know that students can use their dorm address as their permanent address to be registered to vote. But I think the ID piece kind of scares some people off. So just specifically in Louisiana, I know that like probably using all colleges across the board being allowed to use your student ID would be helpful, because all students carry it and I think that could drive the numbers up. I know the progressives are here.
Have you noticed when you're doing voter registration drives on campuses, are there a lot of out of state students who will actually change their voter registration to the state?
Yeah, unless they're from another southern state, where they really like care about voting. I get that a lot from people in Georgia, prior to 2020, is that they really just wanted to vote in Georgia. And probably the same of Florida. But anywhere in the Midwest, or out west or out east, they're pretty willing to change it, especially if they think they're gonna stay down here after college, I think it just makes a natural transition.
So very good. So if they're not in a swing state, and if they're thinking of staying, those are two really good clues that they're going to change their registration, which I love to hear that. And how about getting more students to volunteer at a deep level like you've been doing? Is there something you think needs to happen to get that kind of engagement?
Yeah, I think that because Louisiana is considered such a red state people misjudge the Democratic presence here. I know it exists. And I know that it's deep, and there's a wide network. But I don't think all college students know that. So a part of what I do is just education on the Democratic Party in Louisiana, on candidates. We hosted a lot of forums this year with candidates. And, I think we had a different caliber of candidates this year. They all got some national attention, which made it easier for college students who might have been their first time in the state to say, "Okay, well, there is a path to change here. Like, you know, Louisiana could be Georgia down the road. So maybe I should get involved in campaigns and volunteer, because they really need my presence."
Was it difficult to get folks to engage on the more local elections? Are they more interested in the top of the ticket, the presidential, the Senate, and the Congress, those races?
Yeah, so we definitely have a higher interest in congressional races, and the president in 2020, than any local races. But I always try to remind folks that local government matters. Local government has a huge effect on your day in and day out life, especially as college students. So like, we should focus on national government. That's really important, too. But let's also help local candidates win. We were part of the coordinated campaign in 2019, where we helped get a lot of local candidates elected, which was nice to see. But I think when the 2020 presidential race happened, a lot of people's focus shifted.
Well, look, I think, nationally, people were very interested in that race. Right? That seemed like an existential issue, you know, towards saving democracy. So I can certainly understand that. But I think that is probably also not unique to 2020 from younger voters.
Yeah.
Is there other work that you have going on now that you would like folks to know about? Political work. I mean, obviously.
I'm just really finishing out my term with College Dems and making sure I leave it just as strong as I found it. And then just trying to figure out what's next for me personally.
What's the process for figuring out who the next group of leadership will be for College Dems?
We're hosting a virtual convention in a few weeks. Our virtual convention will have elections. It's a completely democratic process. So each of our chapter presidents gets a vote. We have nine chapters currently. And they'll get to hear from each person who's running for office about their plans and their platform, and then vote after that.
Okay, very good. I do know that we are involved in one Democratic action together. We're involved in the National Democratic Redistricting Committee's suit against the state of Louisiana for redistricting, as that's coming up. And it's sort of a pre filing, before they actually do the redistricting, saying we kind of know that you may not do this right. You are actually listed first on that suit. So when people see English versus Ardoin, you're the English in that suit.
Yeah, I gave my parents a heads up on that one. The filing came out, and I was like, "I guess I should send this to them," just so they know, and if somebody happens to Google me, and it comes up, like, they won't be scared, or anything. But yeah, I think just always fighting for democracy in all aspects, and that sometimes includes voting, that sometimes includes lawsuits, making sure we have fair districts.
So I appreciate your getting involved in that suit, so that we do have a young person's voice in there. And it is something that we'll just have to see how it plays out over the course of the next year or so. But I'll link to it in the podcast notes. So folks can check into it if they want to. I also encourage people to follow the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is Eric Holder's group that's working on redistricting in the States, as well as Democracy Docket, which is Mark Elias' group, who is working on a lot of the same redistricting issues and voting rights issues that are happening right now in our country. And I think this is one of the defining issues of our time. There is so much voter suppression happening now. And redistricting is one of the ways that the right tries to suppress the vote. So I just think it's really great that you're involved in that.
For sure, I think that voting rights is going to be a key issue that's gonna play out in the next couple years. I think the way things happen in the 2020 election, just with COVID, and people having to vote by mail or vote early, just heightened some irrational fears that are already there, for lack of a better phrasing, so they're definitely going to be more under attack and highly scrutinized. Any way I can help out in that, I'll be glad to, because the right to vote is pretty sacred.
Well, I always end the podcast with three questions. So I want to ask you, the three questions, you said you are more progressive, but you're also really working with College Democrats and in that Democratic space, so I want to ask you more from a Democratic perspective. What do you think the Democrats biggest obstacles in this state are right now?
Okay, I have a couple. I think, fundraising. There is a fundraising bench, but it's not as deep as it is maybe in California, or other states that are just blue all the time, or have been for a little while. I think outreach can sometimes be an issue, just given COVID, and we have a lot of local offices that people probably don't necessarily understand at first. So I think the first step is kind of explaining the office that you're running for and how that affects people's lives. And then the third is just like building up our Democratic Party here. I know there's a lot of change happening right now. People need to know there's a strong Democratic Party in their state that they can get involved in and help out in whatever capacity is best for them.
That's all solid. And what do you think Democrats' biggest opportunities are in Louisiana?
I think young people. I think that's their biggest opportunity here is to tap into young people. There are a lot of colleges here, but there are also a lot of young people staying. So many of my friends who just graduated, are staying down here to pursue opportunities or just because they fall in love with the city and the state. So we need to really tap into those young voters and engage them and meet them where they are.
I agree with that 100%, and I'm curious, are you planning to stay in Louisiana?
I'll be down here for a little while longer, just pursuing some opportunities. And I just met so many amazing leaders here that I just want to see what they do next.
Oh, very good. And my favorite question that I always ask at the end of every episode is Who's your favorite superhero?
Black Panther.
Nice. Is there a reason why Black Panther comes to mind for you?
I just think the representation of it all. Also that's probably the first superhero movie that I like really engaged with. And then I went back and did the whole, like, rewatch thing. But yeah.
That's wonderful. That's how they get you. I've mentioned before, I've just gone back and watched all the Marvel movies in chronological order. And I've totally gotten hooked, but I do like when you find your entry point, and you get in and then you're hooked.
Yes. Yes.
Well, Cameron, I thank you so much for joining me to talk about your experiences in College Democrats and your ideas for how we better engage young voters. I think that is critical for the Democratic Party and for progressive candidates, for sure. I wish you best of luck in whatever it is that you do next when you get out of college, and I'm excited to see what that's going to be.
Thank you. And thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely.
As a follow up to our conversation, Cameron shared that there are currently nine chapters of College Dems in our state. In addition to Cameron's chapter at Xavier, there are also College Dems at LSU, South Eastern, Louisiana Tech, University of Louisiana Monroe, Southern University in Baton Rouge, University of New Orleans, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette. You can find ways to plug into College Dems of Louisiana, as well as more information on our voting rights litigation, in the podcast notes.
Thank you for listening to Louisiana Lefty. Please subscribe to our podcast and then follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks to Ben Collinsworth for producing Louisiana Lefty, Jennifer Pack of Black Cat Studios for our Super Lefty artwork, and Thousand $ Car for allowing us to use their swamp pop classic, Security Guard, as our Louisiana Lefty theme song.
