Youth Coalition Drives 73% Turnout Among Contacted Arizona Voters

Democrats can’t ignore Arizona’s youth vote anymore.

Francesca Martin, deputy director of the Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition, laid out how targeted youth organizing is already reshaping Arizona elections — and how much more is at stake in 2026.

“We were told young voters don’t turn out,” Martin said. “What we proved is that when you actually talk to them, they do.” She spoke at a recent LD18 Democrats meeting.

From personal crisis to political purpose

Martin, a political science major at Arizona State University, traced her political awakening to a deeply personal family story.

Her grandfather, a New York firefighter, was severely injured while saving lives. The only reason her family avoided financial collapse, she said, was union support.

“ I had to ask what the difference is between what happened in New York as opposed to a right-to-work state like Arizona, where we have more union-busting laws. Maybe the union couldn’t have stepped in,” she said.

That realization shaped the mission of Keep Arizona Blue, which Martin co-founded at age 16 with three other students.

Grassroots power — not party money

Unlike traditional Democratic efforts, Keep Arizona Blue operates without national party funding. Its work is powered almost entirely by grassroots donations — including strong backing from LD18 Democrats.

In the last cycle alone, the organization raised $281,000, with contributions from all 15 Arizona counties. This fundraising helps counteract racist, anti-Semitic MAGA groups like Turning Point.

“There is no world in which we would’ve had the capacity we did without you,” Martin said, thanking LD18 Democrats directly.

That funding fueled a five-pronged youth strategy:

1. Campus voter registration at universities and community colleges
2. Paid fellowships for high school and college organizers
3. Youth-only phone banking, texting, canvassing, and digital ads
4. Student roundtables in every swing legislative district
5. Candidate workshops on how to talk to young voters

Donate to the Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kabsc

The numbers campaigns can’t ignore

During the last cycle, youth organizers:

• Sent 600,000+ text messages
• Made 30,000 calls
• Knocked 10,000 doors
• Mailed 18,000 postcards
• Generated more than 1 million digital ad impressions
• Handed out 5,000 donuts to students — because who doesn’t love free food?

The impact was decisive.

While typical youth turnout hovers around 50% in presidential years and 25% in midterms, young voters contacted by Keep Arizona Blue turned out at a staggering 73% rate.

“That’s the proof,” Martin said. “If you contact them, they vote.”

The coalition identified 36,000 young voters who sat out the 2022 midterms but participated in 2024, contributing to victories like Ruben Gallego’s 80,000-vote U.S. Senate win. Arizona youth voter turnout in 2024 outpaced that of all other swing states, Martin said.

Martin connected those turnout gains to razor-thin election margins across Arizona — margins that decide control of legislatures, courts, and Congress.

“Senator Ruben Gallego won by about 80,000 votes. However, Attorney General Kris Mayes won by only 280 votes,” she noted. “That’s the size of one ASU classroom.”

In LD9, a swing legislative district, she explained, Democrats won by just 821 votes — while more than 6,800 Democratic-leaning young voters went untouched because campaigns dismissed them as “low-propensity.”

“When we see low propensity, we see high opportunity,” Martin said.

“Candidates in the party don’t necessarily target young voters because they’re not seen as high propensity voters,” Martin said. “But because young voters have a limited voting history and voting record, they’re not usually included in those outreach tactics. So that’s why we make a huge deal of doing that ourselves.”

Martin pointed out threats to democracy on college campuses, where anti-Semitic, racist groups like Turning Point Action pour millions into flashy youth outreach.

“We watched them hand out free food and branded gear,” she said. “On our side, there was just a folding table.”

So Keep Arizona Blue responded — printing Democratic merchandise, distributing polling guides, organizing campus events, and partnering with groups like Donuts for Democracy to meet students where they are.

“We’re done waiting around,” Martin said. “Young people need to see that Democrats care about engaging them — not just in election weeks, but year-round.”

Gearing up for 2026

Looking forward, the organization is already scaling up for the next cycle, targeting:

• Congressional Districts CD1 in Phoenix and CD6 in Tucson.
• Flippable legislative districts, including state Legislative Districts 2, 4, 9, 13, 16, 17 and 23.
• Community colleges, often ignored by campaigns.
• Paid internships at UA, NAU, PCC, and Yavapai College.

Their focus: affordability, jobs, housing, and economic security — issues young Arizonans feel immediately as they leave school and try to build lives in a high-cost state.

“Democrats deliver on these issues,” Martin said. “But we have to make sure Republicans don’t own the message.”

Martin closed with a message that landed less like a pitch and more like a warning.

Arizona Democrats cannot win by chasing only habitual voters while writing off the next generation. The math doesn’t allow it. The margins don’t allow it. Democracy doesn’t allow it.

“Young voters aren’t unreliable,” Martin said. “They’re under-contacted.”

And in a state where elections are decided by 280 votes, that distinction could decide everything.