MA Gov. Maura Healey on trying to reach 'the generation that has fewer freedoms'
A conversation with MA Gov. Maura Healey about young voters on the campaign trail, more insights from Pennsylvania, and my thoughts on how young Americans are disaffected but not disillusioned.
This week I had the opportunity to talk with another advocate for the Harris-Walz campaign, and the governor of the state where I grew up, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.
Healey has criss-crossed the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris and down-ballot candidates, making it a priority to talk with young voters along the way. She attended a Harris-Walz campaign ‘Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour’ stop in Pennsylvania with reproductive rights activist Hadley Duvall and the vice president’s sister Maya Harris, has campaigned for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig in New Hampshire (which is one of the top ten states where young voters could have the biggest impact on the results of the 2024 election), and visited Michigan State University as part of the campaigns ‘Blue Wall Bus Tour.’
In her conversations with young people, Healey explained, she hears them ask a question. It’s a question I’ve heard this week in Pennsylvania, too: “How is it that they are the generation that has fewer freedoms?”
Our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity, is below.
Tell me about your role as a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign, specifically with regard to young voters you've come across in your travels.
Healey: Everything that we're fighting for, everything that is at stake in this election, impacts the future of young people today and the next generation and the generation after that. So I've been trying to get to as many places as possible, whether it's Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Hampshire, to connect with people and also to connect with young people. I believe that young people are such a powerful force if they use their voice.
The way you do that is by voting, because things that young people of different generations didn't have to worry about, like access to abortion and reproductive healthcare, are actually not there for Gen Z, right? And so talking to them directly about that, so that they understand the implications of the election and the implications on their actual lives, is really important.
CIRCLE at Tufts has a list of the top 10 states where young voters could have the biggest impact on the results of the presidential election. New Hampshire is on that list (#8). So despite it not being a traditional battleground state, it is one of the states where young people could be the most decisive. What you are hearing there, specifically? What are the top issues are for young people in New Hampshire?
Healey: New Hampshire has a number of college students on its campuses, and they've had an important role in New Hampshire elections, and they're going to have an important role this time if they choose to get out and use their voice and exercise their power, which is by voting. I think the big issue in New Hampshire right now is reproductive choice.
It's a big deal in a state like New Hampshire because New Hampshire is the only state in New England that hasn't codified Roe. All the other states acted after the Dobbs decision or before the Dobbs decision, to make sure that rose protections were codified. And I think you know, this is at the top of the list for young people, along with climate change. They're impatient. The concerns I’ve heard is, how is it that they are the generation that has fewer freedoms? New Hampshire is the ‘Live Free or Die’ state. They're like, ‘How is it that we have free fewer freedoms than our mothers did?’”
How about in Massachusetts? What are you hearing from young people in your home state?
Healey: What I hear from young people is concerns about costs, concerns about economic opportunity, and freedom. Those things actually sync up and are right in line with the bedrock of Kamala Harris's campaign. The Harris campaign has it right. They're focused on things that young people are really concerned about. They want to be able to buy a home. They want to have economic opportunity. And they want freedom, including freedom when it comes to healthcare choices. We also see young people in Massachusetts campaigning in local elections, but also a number of them getting on busses, going to other states, going to the swing states, to rally voters. Massachusetts is kind of unique. We have so many colleges and universities. Students come from all over the country, and so you see many of them returning back to their home states to campaign for Kamala Harris.
As governor, how have you utilized social media or other creative techniques to reach young people in MA and across the country?
Healey: It's really important that you make proactive efforts to engage with young voters and Gen Z voters, whether that's on Zooms, doing town halls, or meetings. I have a Youth Advisory Council and I regularly engage with that council on matters of policy and seeking their input. That's important, because they need to feel their rightful place in all of this, that their voice matters, and that their vote matters. I also do a lot through Instagram videos and trends and try to connect with people that way, because the fact of the matter is that's really where young people are accessing so much of their news and information. It's through social media and not through some of the traditional media formats.
With your youth advisory council, has there ever been a time that they’ve challenged you with regard to a policy position or on a bill in the legislature? How did you weave that into your decision making process?
Healey: We just had something the other day. We were having a discussion about educational policy and standardized testing, and there was a lot of good back and forth about that. They've definitely been really strong advocates when it comes to climate policy and really pushing me as governor to do as much as I can, as quickly as I can, on on climate policy and action. I want young people to actually grow up wanting to run for office, serve in government, work in the public interest. That is only going to happen if they see that working in government actually is an opportunity to be a change agent and make things happen. So I have to model that.
I've been thinking about what we should be doing in our classrooms right now on social media. Should we be banning phones during the day? What should we should be doing? How do we approach that? Hearing from them directly about what is sensible policy is so, so helpful.
I’ve been hearing a sense of distrust from young people. We’re living in a time with such a crowded media ecosystem, and I'm told it feels like there's no barometer of truth. How do you help instill trust from young people, and what do you say to the ones who are skeptical?
Healey: I understand that skepticism because they've seen too many politicians out there saying things and doing things that are really about their own personal political gain. I understand the disillusionment that young people may feel.
I also know that we haven't helped young people by having robust civics education in this country so they understand how processes work and help to distinguish lies from from truth. There was concern after President [Joe] Biden stepped down and the vice president stepped in as the nominee, that there wasn't enough of a process there, that there should have been a more open process there. What people have to understand is that there fundamentally was not time for that. Given where things were in the campaign schedule and the things that needed to happen, there was simply not time for that. I hope that people don't use that as a reason not to vote because they're disillusioned with a process, when that was the only process that the conditions afforded us at that at that time.
Young people may see ballot boxes being burned in Oregon and Washington. What I say to young people and to all voters out there: you have state officials across the country, including in all of the swing states, governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, local election workers, who are working very, very hard to ensure safe and fair and free elections. People should not be turned off from voting because they see a ballot box on fire, where, as I understand it, officials there have taken swift action to hold people accountable, but to also make sure that they're in touch with voters whose ballots are tracked, to let them know that their ballot may have been compromised. And there is another opportunity to vote.
It’s important for people to understand that there are election officials, law enforcement, and elected officials, who are working very hard right now to protect a safe and secure election. It's what we had in 2020.
Tidbits from Temple University
Also this week, I spoke with students at Temple University about the issues top of mind for them in this election and their plans to vote (or not). Once again, I was struck by the fact that nearly every young woman I spoke with listed women’s rights or abortion as the number one issue motivating them to vote. For men, the issues varied (I did hear one young man say he feels a sense of “apathy”). And I found my first Jill Stein voter. Overall, this group skewed left. I didn’t speak with any Trump voters at Temple, and many students alluded to the fact that the student body is progressive overall.
I’m often asked (especially recently) if I think young people will choose not vote because of concerns with Israel’s war in Gaza. I’ve been all over Philadelphia this week and am having conversations with young people across the country, and this was the first time I had two young voters tell me they may not vote or had voted third party for that reason. That is not a mainstream perspective. And most often, despite plenty of emotions when it comes to Gaza (including at the Community College of Philadelphia this week), young people with those concerns say they still plan to vote for Harris.
Here’s some of what I heard at Temple.
Julia and Sydney, both 21 and from Pennsylvania, told me the top issues motivating them to vote are women’s rights and gun control.
“It feels a bit restrictive, and like I have no control over my life,” Sydney said.
“It’s definitely scary, and I would say with how Congress is set up, it’s a lot of just old white men. So I’m like, ‘What do they know about young women and women’s rights?’ It’s ultimately just the women’s decision,” said Julia.
Julia and Sydney both plan to vote for Harris. “That she’s a woman of color and would be the first woman of color president,” impacts Julia. “She has different perspectives that Trump does not have because she’s personally gone through it herself,” Sydney said.
On the gender divide, Sydney said when it comes to how men think about women’s rights: “It doesn’t really directly impact them, so they don’t really understand it the way some women do.”
Amanda, 20, and from Warminster, Pennsylvania, said a big factor in her decision to vote is: “Knowing about the abortion ban and reading about this whole Project [20]25. Being told it wasn’t part of Trump’s plan and then understanding it was… my vote counts not only to today's time, but to generations down the line. I wanted to be able to make a change that would just support the people who will continue to live after me.”
Alex Georges, 19, from Eastern Pennsylvania, said his top issues were border control and domestic relations. He plans to vote for Harris.
Asked if he has conversations with his friends about politics, he said, “Not as much as I want to, because I don’t want it to get snippy.” On the gender divide, Georges said: “With abortion, obviously men have their say about it. But women are the ones that, it’s their body.”
He said he does care about abortion access, but is less likely to list it as a top issue. Asked why, he said: “It’s not going to be a problem for me now in my life.”
Luka, 20, from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, said he’s “probably not” going to vote in this election. “I show the same like problems as a lot of younger voters, especially at Temple, where we think that the ‘left’ in quotes, leaning option, and the Democratic Party is still, it's moving increasingly more right wing. I think the Palestine thing is a real big deal breaker. I don’t think Kamala’s going to change anything systemically. So it's almost like an apathy. You know what I mean, if I'm in the mood to vote that day, I'll vote,” he said — adding that if he does vote, it will be for Harris. “She’s the better option.”
Luka said he doesn’t align with either party — and said he doesn’t see progressive change as sustainable given the current electoral system.
“Something like abortion will change if a Democratic leaders are in power, but then if a Republican comes back in eight years, they'll just reverse it right back,” he said, adding that he is “all for” abortion access — but thinks “young women definitely feel about it stronger.” He continued: “It’s part of a broader issue, women are still dealing with many systemic wrongs, and I think abortion is a microcosm of that.”
Michael, 22, from Pennsylvania, already voted for Harris. He said “environmental issues and immigration issues” motivated him. While he’s an independent, he said: “I just prefer her stance because it’s a little bit more liberal. I don't think that either is 100% in the right direction, in my opinion, but I think that she's more lenient on stances and there's more willingness for conversation.”
Asked if he’s had any conversations about abortion rights this cycle, Michael said: “I know my girlfriend thinks about it, and my mom thinks about it, and that influences how I feel about it. But when I think about myself, it’s not something that I immediately relate to.”
But while the topic of abortion didn’t motivate his vote, Michael still cares about the issue: “Everybody has relationships in their lives where it’s important to them and it would be wrong to say it’s not important.”
A 21-year-old young man from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania told me he voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Asked why, he said: “I wasn’t a fan of them supporting the war in Israel. That was a big part of it for me. And also, green party supports the climate, so that was a big motivating factor.”
This young man said both his girlfriend and mom had tried to persuade him not to vote third-party. “They both told me that it was a waste of a vote. But my opinion is that you shouldn't just fall into the two party system just because that's what you think will have more of an impact,” he said. Asked why they felt that way he said: “They wanted to vote for Kamala so that Trump didn't get in.”
Asked if there were issues specifically that they brought up, and if he sees a gender divide, this young man said: “My mom and them are very concerned with abortion rights, which I'm also concerned with. I would say that's a big part of the motivating factor for them voting for Kamala.”
“I think just intrinsically, it affects women more obviously because it's their right to do that. And even though I support it, it affects me less, so I'm probably less motivated to think about it immediately,” he said.
Disaffected by not disillusioned
Yesterday I joined CBS Mornings’ Tony Dokoupil and Adriana Diaz to talk about the impact of young voters in 2024 and a project I did with MTV to better understand community college students’ attitudes around voting in battleground states.
As I shared with them, young people are disaffected but not disillusioned. They’re frustrated by the system but passionate about the issues. And yet, when we talk about the stakes of this election, fear of picking the wrong candidate can cause some young people to abstain from voting at all.
Ahead of Election Day, it’s important to remember: Gen Z is not a monolith. There are nearly 41 million eligible Gen Z voters and they make up the most diverse generation in American history. While no one knows what will happen on Tuesday, it’s clear that these voters will play a crucial role in deciding the outcome.
You can watch the full clip here: