‘It’s Not Just a Feeling, It’s a Calling’: How the Head of NYU College Democrats is Encouraging Students to Fight for Change

(NEW YORK) —  Saha Guerrero, a senior public policy major at New York University, and president of the NYU College Democrats, has been heavily involved in both local and national elections, encouraging the next generation to fight for change and democracy. From speaking with the New York Democratic Lawyers Council to interning for Hakeem Jefferies, the 20-year-old lifelong Democrat is among the many young leaders in America fighting for change. He describes what he’s doing through public service as not just a job but a “calling.” 

The Click: As their president, tell me about NYU College Democrats’ goals and motivations for the 2024 presidential election.

Guerrero: The work that we’re doing is not solely just going to be for making sure that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are in the White House, a lot of our efforts are… taking back the [U.S] House because the path to the House Democratic majority runs through New York. We have really crucial districts in Long Island, upstate, and we’re out there knocking on doors, calling voters, texting voters.

We’re doing all the above [not only] because we want to make sure that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win, but that they have a Democratic Congress … so we can rid the Congress of the chaos and the toxicity that the Republicans have brought. And with NYU Democrats, I want to turn us from a club into an actual student youth organization. We’ve worked with various different organizations at the state level and the local level, with the national Harris campaign as well. So… I am a part of this, and I wanted to become president just because I care about the work.

What are some other ways you and your organization are working to educate and mobilize students to vote for Harris in the 2024 presidential election?

We’re really big on voter registration drives. We’ve been doing this since the midterm elections, where we would go to Washington Square Park, and we did this on National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 17. There’s also our first event we had with council member Chi Ossé, and he’s the first Gen-Z city council member in New York City history. It was… about engaging young voters in the election. …He came so everyone can ask him questions, whether it was related to the election or…young voters in the room talking about housing in New York City, talking about democracy, talking about international issues…as well. 

Being a born and raised New Yorker … if there’s anything I can do to serve the communities that shape me, then I’ll do it. Running for office is a dream of mine, and that’s something that I’ll never lose sight of. But taking it day by day, because public service is, of course, nonlinear.

Do you have anything to say to people who say they are not really politically savvy or interested in the election and are only consuming entertainment content about this presidential election via social media, and not educational content to educate themselves or take the 2024 presidential election seriously? 

It’s…how these algorithms work. And we have to meet them where they are, and we have to bring a degree of empathy into these conversations. We’re not going to win elections by vote-shaming people. Relational organizing is what’s going to win this election. We’re all on TikTok. We see all the videos and they’re all over my “for you page,” and I get a laugh out of it. It’s up to organizers, especially young organizers, to meet young people where they are and to speak with their friends and their families because a friend or a family member is going to be more convinced by their relative than a member of Congress or a campaign reaching out to them. 

In the NYU College Democrats guest essay, “Why Kamala Harris is our choice,” on Washington Square News part of what you guys were saying is how Harris is not perfection but progress. If elected, how do you think Harris’s presidency will impact America with regard to present and upcoming generations and future elections?

If we give [Harris] a Democratic Congress, it’s going to be the same thing that we did when Biden had a Democratic Congress. We’re going to deliver immense progress to the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Package, the American Rescue Plan. There’s a wide range of problems that are affecting us on a daily basis, issues that we think we would never be able to solve. We can solve them… if we have the entire Democratic Trifecta in power. 

Obviously, we can’t predict the future, and no candidate is perfect, and we don’t know what’s going to happen on a domestic or international stage, but I’m optimistic, and a lot of young people are as well. And I think it’s better for us to think about what we can possibly achieve, rather than be cynical and think of what shortcomings that we’re gonna deal with in the future.