Public education, LGBTQ+ rights are among the top issues inspiring these first-time AZ voters

“Your vote is going to matter, so at the end of the day, people who are saying ‘I don’t like either candidate.’ You probably like one of them a little more or the other one a little less, and your vote will have a direct impact on the outcome of that election.” —Ian Elder

It’s been almost a month since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee, and first-time voters are excited for the new ticket in a way they previously weren’t.

Duck Brown, 19, and Ian Elder, 18, are both headed to their first year of university. Elder is going to Arizona State University, and Brown to the University of Southern California.

Both said they’re decently politically engaged: Brown gets his political information from Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Elder also stays up to date by scrolling Instagram, and says he fact checks with major news sources if something sounds off.

Both also are excited to cast their ballot for Harris as president, though for different reasons.

Trans rights

Brown is a trans man. He said he’s been on hormone replacement therapy for six months, and fears a second Donald Trump presidency would ultimately end that care.

“It would be devastating if I had to just stop cold turkey because it got taken away,” Brown said. “My number one interest point this election was making sure I still have access to that.”

Trump has said he’d reverse the expansion of Title IX, the federal civil rights law preventing sex discrimination in schools, and prohibit federally funded schools from letting students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. He also attacked Biden for recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility.

RELATED: VIDEO: Arizona teens talk about their experience as first-time voters

Here in Arizona, the Republican-majority Legislature has passed a number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills; the only reason those haven’t been implemented is because Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has served as the state’s bulwark against those attacks.

Here are just a few that were sent to the governor’s desk and were ultimately vetoed:

• SB 1001: Would make it illegal for teachers and school employees to respect the pronouns of trans or non-binary students without written parental permission.
• SB 1005: Schools could be sued for providing supportive spaces for LGBTQ+ students.
• SB 1040: Bans trans students from using restrooms that match their gender identity.

“As politicians across the country continue to pass harmful legislation directed at transgender youth, I have a clear message to the people of Arizona: I will veto every bill that aims to attack and harm children,” Hobbs wrote in her 2023 veto of SB 1001.

Brown said he’s not sure how much further trans rights would progress under a Harris presidency, but knows that they’d regress under a Trump one.

“The last few years have not led me to be super optimistic about change,” Brown said. “Hopefully with all Democrats, [transgender protections] would be able to push through.”

Public education

Elder’s mother is a school teacher in Phoenix, and that centers what he’s looking for in the next president. One of his most desired policies is what Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz keeps touting on the campaign trail.

“I think the biggest thing we need to see is probably more free and reduced lunches,” Elder said. “It’s an issue I know is being taken seriously by some of the presidential and vice presidential candidates.”

Trump is not one of those candidates. In fact, many education advocates fear the public education system as we know it could be destroyed under a second Trump presidency, disproportionately hurting students who are LGBTQ+, low-income, students of color, and students who live in rural parts of the country.

Elder also said he’s concerned about unrestricted and barely regulated vouchers, which were a major part of a $1.4 billion budget shortfall in Arizona.

Vouchers, or the Empowerment Scholarship Account, allows parents to spend public money on private education. It can be used to pay for private school tuition, but has also been used to pay for toys, ninja warriors training, trampoline park outings, and ski passes. Vouchers funnel money away from public school and into private schools and homeschooling.

“I think adjusting the voucher system and making it easier for charter schools and public schools to get the funding they need instead of private schools getting government funding will help make sure all schools are able to give kids the education they need,” Elder said.

Harris has voiced support for public schools in the past. In 2019, she said she wanted to give the average US teacher a $13,500 raise in her first term. Her running mate Walz established his position against school vouchers when running for governor in 2018.

“As a former public school teacher, I will always do everything in my power to protect our public education system from privatization,” he wrote in a questionnaire from Education Minnesota, as reported by the Washington Post.

Elder also cited reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights as other issues informing his vote this November. He said his faith led him to candidates who prioritize inclusivity, much like his church.

Elder is a Methodist, a sect of Protestant Christianity. In 2024, the United Methodist Church removed language from its doctrine that targeted non-heterosexual people, including revising its definition of marriage as a covenant between “two people of faith.”

“Our church supports a lot of inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ community, and I think that for me, my faith has influenced me to look for the candidates who are interested in inclusive policymaking,” Elder said.

Harris, a Baptist, spoke at the National Baptist Convention in 2022. She spoke about the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration and connected it with her faith. She mentioned how people often can’t afford medical bills, and clergy will pitch in to help those struggling in the community.

“The church has a role to play, but so does our government,” Harris said. “Because we all here know God calls on us. God calls on us to help heal the sick.”

Elder said he’s seen a lot of Christian rhetoric on both sides of the political spectrum, but Harris’ positions have caught his ear.

“I think Vice President Kamala Harris has said a couple great things that I really agree with and her take on how religion and politics can interact,” Elder said.

A shift in polls to Harris

Every four years the electorate adds millions of eligible voters, and newly minted 18 to 21-year-olds are likely to have an impact in key states across the country.

“Your vote is going to matter, so at the end of the day, people who are saying ‘I don’t like either candidate.’ You probably like one of them a little more or the other one a little less, and your vote will have a direct impact on the outcome of that election,” Elder said.

A spring poll of 18- to 29-year-olds from the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School indicated that young voters were practically begging for a different choice in the 2024 election.

Of the voters polled, 28% said they were voting for Biden, 25% for Trump, 11% for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 4% for Jill Stein, 3% for Cornel West—and 28% were undecided.

Harris changed that equation. She led by nearly 20 points with only 7% undecided among 18- to 29-year-olds in a recent New York Times poll.

“A lot of my friends who were planning to vote third party have decided that [Harris] is cool,” Brown said. “She just makes people optimistic. She makes us feel like the future isn’t two old white men who hate us, and that is a little bit of relief.”

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