With young TN voters unhappy with Biden, Democrats worry about outcome of Memphis races

Noah Nordstrom is vying to be one of the youngest Tennesse House of Representative members in the history of the state. Nordstrom, a 26-year-old Spanish teacher at Overton High School, is running against Republican incumbent Mark White for the Tennessee House District 83 seat.

The differences between White and Nordstrom are stark. White is a longtime conservative lawmaker, who has pushed for school voucher programs which inspired Nordstrom to run against him. District 83 is considered a strong Republican seat, and White and other Republicans have represented the area for the last 10 years.

Now, incumbent White is facing one of his youngest challengers to date. Norstrom has worked on multiple Democratic campaigns and hopes to bring a young progressive voice to Nashville.

But the biggest challenge to his campaign isn't facing a longtime incumbent, it is getting young people to the polls. This problem isn't unique to him or this race, it is an issue that Democrats are starting to see across the nation.

Overall, 66% of Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election, with turnout the highest ― about 76% ― among people aged 64-74. Experts say high turnout gives elections more credibility because the results more closely mirror what the majority of people want.

Today, polls show President Joe Biden has weak support among voters between the ages of 18-29, and that while 26% of Americans overall have a negative view of both former President Donald Trump and Biden, a significantly larger 41% of young voters dislike both, according to a poll by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Tennessee is one of the worst states for young voter turnout, in 2020 turnout came in well below the national youth-voting average of 50% with a measly 43%. For the midterm elections in 2022, Tennessee had the worst youth-voter turnout in the nation at just 12.7%.

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Even Nordstrom can't say he is excited to cast a presidential ballot.

"I'm 26 years old, and this is my third presidential election and Donald Trump has been at the center of every presidential election in my adult life, and it's horrible," Nordstrom said. "I think a lot of people are unenthusiastic too, frankly, about President Biden. I mean, (Biden) wasn't the young people's choice in 2020 amongst the Democrats."

In 2020, Tennessee's youth turnout was among thelowest in the nation at 43%, well below the national youth-voting average of 50%. And in the 2022 mid-term elections, Tennessee had the country's worst youth-voter turnout at just 12.7%.

Candidates altering campaign tactics

Nordstrom said many of his friends did not cast a vote in this year's presidential primary in Tennessee. The few that did, did not mark their ballot for Biden.

Nordstrom said this comes from a multitude of issues stemming from inaction from the Democratic party.

The student debt relief Biden promised was "halfway done," Nordstrom said, a $15 minimum wage was not delivered upon, and guaranteed abortion rights have not happened.

Not only did he hear from friends that they were not planning to vote for Biden, but he has also been hearing from constituents when door-knocking for his campaign. Nordstrom said many young voters he has interacted with are not planning on voting in November for Biden but are expressing excitement for local elections.

Nordstrom believes that the Tennessee Three explement last year has led to a large statewide network of people who are "tapped in" to getting Democrats elected.

"Even this year I would say there's been a lot of attention-grabbing things too, as far as the (school choice) vouchers and some of the anti-immigrant bills and there's just been like a statewide network really activated around all this stuff," Nordstrom said.

Yet, Nordstrom has had to engage in difficult conversations with young voters, many of whom have felt completely iced out by the Democratic party.

But they are not alone in that feeling; Nordstrom also feels isolated from the broader Democratic Party, even as a Democratic candidate. He doesn't agree with their typical fear-mongering campaign tactics, like saying "not voting blue" will lose access to abortion rights or promote hateful ideology surrounding LGBTQ+ individuals.

He tells voters he does not care if or who they vote for on the presidential ballot, but urges them to take an interest in local politics.

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"I'm not gonna sit here and lecture people to go, you know, toeing the party line if that party is not delivering for them," Nordstrom said. "I think it's on us to build a better party and to deliver better candidates to all levels and so like, I can only control me, right, and so that's what I'm doing here locally."

Typically, the call to action from the Democratic Party is a model where voters must vote blue, or else, Nordstrom said. Nordstrom said for this year's campaign cycle, that isn't going to work. Young voters feel "used and abused," by the "fear monger voting," Nordstrom said.

"Rather than being like, 'Vote because we're all gonna die,' let's say... 'Hey, vote because we can build the Tennessee with high-speed trains that connect this whole state...go vote, because I want all of us to have health care. Go vote, because I'm going to work hard to make sure we actually implement the state minimum wage and not just rely on the $7.25 federal minimum wage,'" Nordstrom said.

Local voters aren't casting ballots for president, indifferent on local

Multiple young voters who would typically cast a blue ballot are uncommitted to voting in the presidential election or are flat out refusing. Their reasons vary but mainly focus on the lack of promises delivered by the Biden administration.

Julia Mendes, a 28-year-old account manager from Memphis, said her feelings going into the 2024 presidential election are very different from 2020. Mendes said 2020 felt "hopeful" and that change could be made in the government.

Only four years later, Mendes said she is feeling a sense of dread going into November.

"It's just those feelings of not really knowing where I'm going to vote how I'm going to vote to make my voice be heard because it doesn't seem like any options available represent my voice anymore," Mendes said.

Mendes voted for Biden in 2020 because she did not feel safe as a Hispanic American while Trump was in office. Biden's stance on immigration going into office gave her a sense of hope in his administration.

The most recent State of the Union address, Mendes said, proved that she was wrong.

During Biden's State of the Union Address, he referred to the Venezuelan man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as an “illegal." Many liberals consider the term "illegal" as outdated language. The term is often preferred by Republicans ― but long abandoned by Democrats and social justice advocates ― when referring to people who have entered the country without documentation.

The lack of abortion protection is Kirsten Mansel's sticking point for not voting. Mansel, a 23-year-old studying medicine at the University of Memphis, said that over the years, Democrats have had chances to codify abortion rights and they have not done so and now in vitro fertilization (IVF) is on the line, too.

Luis Lopez Gamez, 21, a student at the University of Memphis, said border reform and the treatment of Hispanic Americans are sticking points for him, as well as the ongoing war in Gaza.

"I just think that with the promises and everything in 2020, the illusion that we had of Biden has not come to fruition," Gamez said. "In November, I do not plan on voting, well, skipping the presidential ballot. I don't feel that there's any need for me to express a vote when I have two candidates I'm completely dissatisfied with."

Gamez is Latino and queer, two parts of his identity he said make it difficult to choose not to vote for president.

"Why am I having to choose the lesser of two evils again, and at the end of the day, the lesser of two evils is still making me choose an evil," Gamez said. "Don't think that just by the fact that you're blue, you have my support, you have to earn it."

Gamez said Biden's lack of immigration reform and his slow move to revoke Title 42 are other reasons he cannot vote for him. Title 42 was a pandemic-era emergency border restriction that allowed for easier restriction on alyssum seekers at the Southern border. Trump enacted the effort during the pandemic; the Biden administration rescinded it in May of 2023 after the pandemic public health emergency ended.

Another sticking point for voters is Biden's non-action on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Many young Democrats say it is the president's responsibility to protect Palestinians, and he has failed to do that.

Betty Zatar is 19 and a Palestinian American from Memphis and is among the numerous young voters refusing to cast a ballot for Biden.

The ongoing war in Gaza has changed her views on voting during the general election entirely. Zatar said this would be her first time voting in a general election, but because Biden has not called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, she cannot support him or other Democratic candidates.

When asked about voting in local elections, responses were mixed. Some young voters said they plan to still vote for Democrats in Shelby County elections.

Dania Aljafari, an 18-year-old from Jackson, Tennessee who goes to school and is registered to vote in Memphis, said that while she will not be voting on the presidential ballot, she wants to invest time to learn more about local candidates.

"I think that especially like in Shelby County, because it is a blue county, I think I will definitely be voting," Aljafari said. "I will be more inclined to go out to things...meet people and understand what it is they're advocating for and then hopefully vote."

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Biden may not get young Tennessee voters in the 2024 election