[ Democratic candidates for governor were victorious in key
battleground states in 2022. Their successes, like those of Democrats
up and down the ballot, were in part powered by the support of young
voters, who backed Democrats by large margins.]
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JOSH SHAPIRO’S CAMPAIGN FOR PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR GOT A BOOST FROM
DAUGHTER SOPHIA  
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Rachel Janfaza
December 13, 2022
Teen Vogue
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_ Democratic candidates for governor were victorious in key
battleground states in 2022. Their successes, like those of Democrats
up and down the ballot, were in part powered by the support of young
voters, who backed Democrats by large margins. _

Sophia Shapiro, Josh Shapiro's 21-year-old daughter, a junior at the
University of Pittsburgh, a social and political justice advocate in
her own right, served as her one of her father's best surrogates.
(Teen Vogue),

 

In Pennsylvania, attorney-general-turned-governor-elect Josh Shapiro,
who defeated Republican state senator Doug Mastriano, ran one of the
most robust youth-vote programs of any candidate in this election
cycle. With the help of Students for Shapiro
[[link removed]] — the Gen Z-led operation
supporting his campaign — Shapiro held a TikTok text bank with Gen
Z for Change
[[link removed]],
leaned into BeReal [[link removed]], visited college
campuses
[[link removed]] across
the commonwealth, and went viral on TikTok, spoofing the Bama Rush
trend
[[link removed]],
sharing his love for Uncrustables
[[link removed]],
and playing multiple rounds of “Slay or Nay
[[link removed]].”

Students for Shapiro harnessed the power of nearly 1,000 members
across 50 college campuses
[[link removed]].
The group had its own interface on the Shapiro campaign’s Team Josh
PA [[link removed]] mobile
app, where Gen Z'ers could register to vote, make voting plans, and
text fellow Gen Z'ers to encourage them to support the Democratic
gubernatorial candidate. And on the campaign's social channels, about
a dozen Gen Z content creators posted material such as Shapiro’s
record on issues like student loan debt
[[link removed]] and
his priorities for Pennsylvania that would most resonate with young
people, namely protecting abortion rights
[[link removed]] and
voting rights.

Young people backed Shapiro over Mastriano by stark margins, according
to exit polling analysis from the Center for Information and Research
on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE). CIRCLE says that,
per Edison’s exit polls, young people voted for Shapiro 71% to
Mastriano’s 27%. 

Whether it was a savvy social media strategy or creative in-person
events, the brainpower behind Students for Shapiro’s well-received
youth outreach belonged to Shapiro’s daughter, Sophia. The
21-year-old junior at the University of Pittsburgh, and a social and
political advocate in her own right, served as one of her dad’s best
surrogates. _Teen Vogue_ checked in with Sophia to learn more about
her activism and the work she did to ensure Gen Z was represented on
the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. 

_This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity._ 
 

Sophia and Josh Shapiro on the campaign trail (Teen Vogue)
_TEEN VOGUE:_ YOU WERE THE BRAINPOWER BEHIND STUDENTS FOR SHAPIRO.
HOW DID YOU GET THE INITIATIVE OFF THE GROUND?

SOPHIA SHAPIRO: I was really encouraged by the campaign staff and my
dad to take this idea of Students for Shapiro and run with it at
University of Pittsburgh. We launched our chapter there in January. It
was really successful, and we decided over the summer to take it and
grow it statewide, even nationally, working with students at other
universities who are from Pennsylvania to ensure that people are
mailing their ballots back on time. It was really a team effort.

_TV_: WHAT DID THE YOUTH-DRIVEN PROGRAMMING OF STUDENTS FOR SHAPIRO
LOOK LIKE? HOW DID YOU COORDINATE THE CHAPTERS AND EVENTS?

SS: Over the summer, we did outreach through social media, through
different networks like College Dems, to reach students on their
campuses and have them start chapters. That would look like Instagram
posts on both the Students page and my dad's page. People would reach
out, fill out a form, and then I would follow up and contact them and
we would get them started. We gave them everything they needed:
digital toolkits, reference documents, talking points, the support
they needed, and put them into a community where there were people
organizing already. 

We were able to grow to over 50 chapters, almost 1,000 members across
Pennsylvania and beyond. We had events from “Tacos and Texting” to
Penn State’s ice cream social. We had poster and sign drop off,
tabling, voter registration — a huge, diverse group of events that
looked different on every college campus. The greatest part about
Students for Shapiro is that each campus tailored it to the people on
their campus. 

_TV:_ STUDENTS FOR SHAPIRO AND THE SHAPIRO CAMPAIGN HAD PRETTY VIRAL
TIKTOK ACCOUNTS — THE STUDENTS FOR SHAPIRO ACCOUNT OFTEN FEATURED
YOU AND YOUR COLLEGE ROOMMATE. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY. WERE THE STUDENT-LED AND OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS IN CONVERSATION
WITH EACH OTHER?

SS: I think the Students for Shapiro TikTok and our official TikTok
account were very complementary to each other. We were both engaging
young people from our platform as young people, but we also ensured
that my dad and [Lieutenant Governor-elect] Austin [Davis] were
engaging young people in a way that made sense on their platform. 

They participated in TikTok trending sounds and dances, and we
participated in them as well, but we also did a lot of informational
videos. We wanted to make sure that people were seeing content that
was both about policy and really what the campaign is about, but then
also to make it fun and light. We had a nice mix of trending, fun,
entertaining videos and kind of direct-to-camera talking about what's
going on in the world and why this election is so important. There was
so much at stake.
 

A Students for Shapiro gathering (Teen Vogue)
_TV:_ WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE VIRAL TIKTOKS TO DO? 

SS: That’s a hard one. They were all really fun. I think the Bama
rush
[[link removed]] one
was probably my favorite to do just because I remember seeing my first
Bama rush video on TikTok, and I was like, “Dad, I have a crazy
idea, but I think this would be a really awesome video.” We did a
“What's in your campaign bag?” instead of “What's in your rush
bag?” 

I also think that the BeReal content toward the end of the campaign
was really, really effective in engaging young people. We launched our
BeReal on TikTok. We talked about it and used those trending BeReal
sounds. Then we got my dad an actual BeReal account, and throughout
that last week, on the bus tour, he would actually post on BeReal and
students would react to it. It was an incredible way of having people
directly connect with him and be able to react to his post and
comment, and we would engage with them as well. 

_TV:_ TO SHIFT THE CONVERSATION A BIT, YOU’RE AN ACTIVIST IN YOUR
OWN RIGHT. CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH HOW YOU GOT YOUR START IN ACTIVISM
AND WHAT YOUR WORK LOOKED LIKE BEFORE THE 2020 ELECTION?

SS: Going back to high school, I've always been kind of an outspoken
person and someone who doesn't sit on the sidelines, so to speak. I
was a member of our political action club, and we hosted the first
bipartisan political action club conference at our high school. We
brought speakers from both sides. It was really at a time of political
polarization, as we see today, right after 2016. My co-president was a
Republican, and we wanted to bring people together, so we hosted that
conference. 

And then the Parkland shooting was, I think, where I started to step
outside of my bubble and do work in the community and engage with
people who I'd never met before, who were really just a few miles from
my high school. After the Parkland shooting, my friend and I led the
National School Walkout on our campus, where pretty much the entire
school walked out. 

We had a ceremony, and that really led me to gun violence prevention
activism in Philadelphia, working with different local organizations,
meeting with bereavement groups for moms. That was a very powerful
experience for me and helped open my eyes to everything going on, like
I said, just a few miles away from where I grew up. That was probably
my biggest start and leap into the activism world.

When I got to my college campus, I engaged in work with the College
Dems to elect [President Joe] Biden. And I have always been an
advocate for the Jewish people and standing up against anti-semitism
on my college campus and in my community. That work is also something
that is very important to me.

_TV:_ DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE THIS ACTIVISM INTO YOUR DAD'S NEW
ADMINISTRATION OR TO CONTINUE TO BE AN ACTIVIST ON THE OUTSIDE? HOW DO
YOU SEE YOUR ROLE DEVELOPING?

SS: I think my role is still developing. My dad has always committed
himself to reaching people where they are and making sure that
everyone has a place in his campaign, and I think that could not be
more true of his future administration. As he's developing his vision
for the commonwealth, I know that young people's voices are a group
that he absolutely wants to include in governing. And I would love to
be a part of that. I think that we will kind of see where things go
from here.
 

Josh Shapiro gives Sophia a hug on election night (Teen Vogue)
_TV:_ YOU MENTIONED THAT YOUR DAD ALWAYS WANTS TO MAKE SURE YOUNG
PEOPLE'S VOICES ARE REPRESENTED. WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR YOUR DAD’S
ADMINISTRATION WITH REGARD TO YOUNG PEOPLE? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE
HIM DO FOR THEM?

SS: I definitely want to see him continue to engage young people
through mediums and platforms that we are on. Touting the policy and
progress that I see this administration making in the future to young
people and ensuring they know that they have an advocate in the
governor's office is so crucial, while also maintaining that
relationship with all the people who helped [him] get in there —
making sure that, if there is an issue that matters to Gen Z, they
have a voice and they're being heard.

_TV:_ WHAT ROLE DID STUDENTS FOR SHAPIRO AND OTHER YOUNG PENNSYLVANIA
VOTERS PLAY IN HELPING YOUR DAD WIN THIS ELECTION?

SS: As more data is coming in, we're seeing that young people turned
out in [near] record numbers, and I think that speaks to a wider trend
nationally that we saw where young people turned out. Young people
were really upset after the _Dobbs_ decision. Like my dad says,
we've come into a world where maybe we have less rights than past
generations had. This signals a new wave of young voters who are going
to continue to turn out in record numbers and then continue to hold
government accountable, make sure that they're working for us and that
our futures are protected, and that the decisions being made in
government today that will affect us 20, 50, 100 years down the line
are being made with our futures in mind.

_[RACHEL JANFAZA is a journalist covering Gen Z and its politics. Most
recently, she started ‘The Up and Up
[[link removed]],’ a newsletter focused on Gen
Z’s political zeitgeist: how young Americans are organizing,
mobilizing and participating in civic life and politics — or, how
and why they’re not._

_Previously, she was an associate writer on the CNN Politics team
covering young voters, campaigns and breaking news. As the first
writer for CNN Politics dedicated to the youth beat, Rachel wrote
about the first members of Gen Z to launch campaigns for Congress, how
TikTok became a political battleground and the youth mental health
crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic._

_Before joining CNN in 2020, she started writing about youth political
culture for Teen Vogue and MTV News. Her reporting has explored youth
activism around the world, from the fight against Brexit to global
climate strikes, as well as initiatives to lower the voting age at the
local level. And she wrote her senior thesis at Harvard College,
titled “Post the Change You Wish To See: The Role of Social Media in
Youth Led Social Movements from 2010-2020,” on the ways young
leaders utilized social media in mass movements of the past decade.]_
 

* Josh Shapiro
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* 2022 Elections
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* youth vote
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* Student Debt
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* Doug Mastriano
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* Pennsylvania
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* John Fetterman
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* MAGA
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* GOP
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* Democratic Party
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* Gen-Z
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* College Dems
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* Young Dems
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