Clips

I’ve acted as an on-the-record spokesperson and key communicator for several organizations and political projects. Here is a sampling of media appearances:

MSNBC: “Democrats made appeal to young voters at convention. Will Republicans do the same?” August 23, 2020

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CNN: “Can Joe Biden balance young and old," by Ron Brownstein. April 21, 2020

The Biden campaign expects that young people's widespread dissatisfaction with Trump will prompt them to turn out more than in 2016…"If that were enough, it would make my life a lot easier," says Ben Wessel, executive director of NextGen America, a liberal organizing group. "But the choice is not Democrat vs. Republican, it's voting vs. not voting." Expecting Trump to motivate youth turnout on his own, he added, "is just not the facts on the ground."

NPR: “Young Progressives Who Backed Biden Plan to Press HIm for Action” by Juana Summers. November 13, 2020

"At the end of the day, youth turnout was through the roof, and we're probably looking at, when all the ballots are tallied, the highest youth vote turnout ever," said Ben Wessel, the executive director of NextGen America…."I think the role of these activist movements getting young people off the streets and into the polling place, it can't be ignored.”

CSPAN’s Washington Journal: ”Youth Vote and the Biden Campaign.” August 17, 2020

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Crooked Media: “OPINION: What Biden Must Do For The Youth Vote,” by Ben Wessel. April 6, 2020.

To win in November, Democrats need young people to vote in record numbers. Gen Z and Millennials (that is, people aged 18-38) will make up nearly 40 percent of the eligible voters this fall, but to date, turnout figures for these voters have been mixed. Young Americans are clear in their disdain for President Trump (nearly 70 percent of them disapprove of his performance as president), but if Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee, he has to make sure that young people don’t stay home or vote third party in November. As the executive director of the country’s largest young-voter mobilization organization, I know there’s a few things Biden can do to get the skeptical youth on board.