Headquarters
"She has made the decision to hand these accounts back to us"
If we want a truly representative democracy, we need young leaders at the table.
Today, Future Caucus — a bipartisan network of young state legislators across the ideological and partisan spectrum — released “The Exit Interview: Why Decent People Are Struggling to Serve in Public Office,” a unique report built from conversations with 89 state legislators across 31 states and both parties.
Last year, I joined the Future Caucus team to interview many of these legislators about the reasons young people often shy away from public office. We found that rising political violence, serious financial strain, and high pressure on individuals and families thanks to partisan extremes are all part of the problem.
Today’s report offers a path forward for all those invested in engaging our next generation of elected leaders. You can read more about ‘Why young state legislators are weighing the exit’ in Axios. And you can find the full report here. I encourage you to check it out.
The launch of ‘Headquarters’
The 2024 election left Democrats questioning their relationship to young voters.
Despite what *at the time* seemed like a punchy and viral social media presence across “KamalaHQ” platforms, the messaging wasn’t enough to convince young Americans, especially young men in particular. In the end, President Donald Trump had the best performance with young voters of any Republican candidate in modern history.
Much ado has been made about Trump and his MAGA allies’ social media strategy, which took an everything, everywhere, all at once approach across new and traditional media, leaving Democratic operatives in the dust struggling to keep up.
So many people were skeptical last night when the KamalaHQ social media account (across Instagram, X, and TikTok) posted an ominous video teasing an upcoming announcement.
Today, the accounts took on a new name “Headquarters,” with an appearance from former Vice President Kamala Harris herself.
At first, it looked like a pseudo-campaign launch — spurring quite the conversation on X, to say the least. But that’s not what’s going on.
“KamalaHQ is turning into Headquarters. And it’s where you can go online to get basically the latest of what’s going on, and also to meet and revisit with some of our great courageous leaders. Be they elected leaders, community leaders, civic leaders, faith leaders, young leaders. I’m really excited about it,” Harris said in a video message.
Today I spoke with Lauren Kapp and Arlie Shugaar, who helped run the KamalaHQ accounts in 2024 and are now at the helm of ‘Headquarters,’ a project spearheaded by KamalaHQ staffers and ‘People for the American Way,’ a progressive advocacy organization.
Since 2024, Kapp launched Luminary Strategies, a digital firm helping Democratic campaigns and causes, including Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Shugaar’s been responsible for the Democratic National Committee’s ‘Fact Post’ news account, a rapid response page that acts in opposition to pages like ‘MAGA War Room.’
I wanted to get the dl on the new account and learn how its presence might differ from 2024.
Our conversation, shared below, has been edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
🔑 What You’ll Unlock: Highlights from this edition
The goal of ‘Headquarters’
Lessons learned from 2024, i.e. reaching more than just the girls and the gays
Their 3 focus issues