“I felt like no one voice reflected the needs of all of our constituents,” Binda said. “Now that we’re growing and changing, I just think it needed a different voice.”
Binda ran a campaign focused on increasing affordable housing and diversity in the city. He won in 2021 at age 21 — the youngest Black elected in state history, he said.
Binda believes he brings a sense of urgency to elected office – a willingness to act quickly and challenge the way things have always been done.
“I’m up there as someone who’s just authentic, more real, more raw,” Binda said.
Binda acknowledges that his approach to politics has sometimes put him in a difficult situation.
During his first year in office, Binda was the subject of an ethics complaint and a failed recall attempt related to the use of city property and an email address to personal purposes. The state Public Disclosure Commission also fined him $1,000 for misusing campaign funds for personal use. He also got in trouble with the commission for missing the deadline to pay campaign filing fees. He said it was because, as a young person, he didn’t know how to write a check.
His colleagues criticized him for his “lack of decorum” and his failure to respect parliamentary procedure during meetings. The Daily Mail and the New York Post wrote articles attacking him for a shirtless photo he posted on Instagram.
Binda apologized for campaign finance violations and said he made mistakes as a newcomer to politics and unfamiliar with the rules. He described other aspects of the controversy as being driven by a “good old boys’ club” made up of people who did not want to see a young person of color trying to make a change.
“When you’re young and you go into history and you get into it, the first person is always the one who’s going to get the blowback,” Binda said.
Community outreach may also be different for younger city councilors, many of whom use social media in ways that older city councilors have not. Sunnyside City Council member Keren Vazquez, 27, said Instagram Reels and live streams are an important part of how she tries to inform the community and connect with voters, especially the youngest.
“While older council members don’t use social media, they believe the flyers more,” said Vazquez, who was elected in 2023 at age 26. “I’m always saying ‘Let’s use QR codes’ or ‘Let’s use QR codes’. Publish more stories.”
Binda has around 43,000 followers on TikTok and said the platform helps him make politics more approachable and relatable to young people and people who are tired of the “BS bureaucracy” of politics. He said his use of the platform had embarrassed some of his colleagues.
“I definitely face pushback because of that because it’s not something they’re used to,” Binda said. “They didn’t have the platform to do it.”
Barriers
All the young officials interviewed said they faced skepticism because of their age when running for office.
While ringing the bell in Redmond, Salahuddin encountered people who told him he was “too young” to run. Someone told Kenmore’s Loutsis that he hadn’t held a job “long enough to know what the working world is like.” Others questioned him because he didn’t know what it was like to be a parent. Sunnyside’s Vazquez remembers one woman who said, “Oh, honey, you’re going to get eaten alive.” » In Newcastle, Charbonneau said he was criticized for “being a tenant and not an owner”.
Binda said his opponent in Lynnwood told KING 5 that she was in office when Binda was born.
“Showing up to the door at 21 and saying, ‘Hey, I’m running to represent you, manage your budgets and run the city’…I made a lot of people laugh,” Binda said.
But the younger elected officials said they also met a lot of people — as well as older politicians — who supported them and were happy to see someone from the next generation stepping up.
Skepticism is not the only obstacle preventing young people from accessing elected office. The research of Information Centercivic education, learning and engagement at Tufts University found that financial pressure, lack of support networks, and feeling not qualified enough are all major barriers for young people, especially young people of color.
There is a feeling of “imposter syndrome” when you run a campaign against an older, more experienced opponent, Vazquez said. “You ask yourself, “Am I really capable? »
Running for office is expensive and time-consuming. It’s especially difficult for young people who aren’t already financially secure, Charbonneau said.
Most Washington city councils are technically part-time jobs with part-time pay, but the heavy workload often makes it feel like a full-time job. (Seattle, which pays board members between $137,432 and $144,614 per year, is a major exception.) Many boards have meetings that conflict with the workday – another obstacle for someone who must work full time. The young politicians interviewed all described their difficulties in reconciling work – and in some cases school – with their political commitments.
“That’s why we see a lot of older people,” said Loutsis, who serves on the Kenmore City Council while also pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Washington and working part-time as a graduate assistant on campus. “They have that financial situation, maybe more time in their schedule.”
For young people, committing to a term of office can also mean putting other career opportunities on hold.
“When I was campaigning, some of my friends were like, ‘What are you doing? You’re crazy,” Vazquez said. “‘If you win, you’re going to be stuck there for four years and you’re going to spend your youth until you’re 30.'”
Whatever the challenges, all the young elected officials said they would encourage other interested young people to get involved. It’s important to have representation and a “diversity of voices” at the table when decisions are made, Charbonneau said.
“I think we care about issues that other people might not care about,” Charbonneau said.
Many young city council members are working to increase youth participation in politics. Both Vazquez and Loutsis said they were creating youth councils where young people could have more direct input into political decisions.
It’s important to have young people elected, Salahuddin said, because decisions about land use, climate change and transportation can have generational consequences.
“Many of the decisions we make as leaders would not be beneficial to the future of our city if we don’t actually incorporate the voices of those who will actually be impacted,” Salahuddin said. “Young leaders absolutely need to be at the table. »
This story was updated on December 10 to clarify that Alexis Mercedes Rinck appears to be the first person in their 20s to serve on the Seattle City Council.