Another young gun is trying to get voters excited about his candidacy for East Baton Rouge Metro Council. Brett Jackson, 20, is running for the District 12 seat of the Council.
Jackson isn't the first young man to try his hand at politics. Jason Wesley, a then-University student, ran in 2004 for the same seat and missed the runoff by 200 votes. Other young politicians in the area include Brian Thomas, a 20-year-old councilman in Opelousas, and 23-year-old Walker Hines, who is a representative in the Louisiana House for District 95. This district includes parts of New Orleans around Tulane and Loyola universities.
There were approximately 814 elected officials under the age of 35 from mayors and councilmen to state legislators and members of Congress, according to "Young Elected Leaders Project," a study done by the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics in 2002. The 814 translates to about one out of 20 politicians - 5 percent. This seems like a pretty decent deal, but it's not.
The problem is it's hard for people in this age group to run and win elections. Usually during this time individuals are starting careers and families and don't have as much time to run campaigns.
Other experts point to the problems of a lack of money required to finance a campaign and the problem of too few mentors willing to show young people how the process works. Other problems include the age requirements to hold office and lack of term limits on some offices which allow older officials to stay in office longer.