This conversation aired in the November 3, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.
Today, San Franciscans will finish deciding who their next representative in Congress will be, filling the Congressional seat Nancy Pelosi will vacate after 39 years. Among those watching the results closely will be some teenagers. Despite many of them being too young to vote, high school students in San Francisco have been volunteering for both congressional campaigns.
KALW's Charlie Zeitlin, a teenager himself, has been doing research about young voters and talking to high school age volunteers. Charlie found out that youth, even those who can't vote yet, have a few issues they care about the most.
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Interview Transcript
SUNNI: So Charlie, you've been involved with KALW for a while now, doing reporting and production. Why are you here today talking to us about politics?
CHARLIE: Well, Sunni, I serve on the Palo Alto Youth Council. We advise our own city council about issues that impact teens. We SUNNI events geared toward teens. I've also led some trips up to the state capital, where the California Association of Youth Commissions advocates for issues important to youth. And really what matters to me with this work is getting more people my age engaged and excited about government.
SUNNI: What do we know about youth in regards to the election this year?
CHARLIE: Well, in my research, I haven't come across much data on high school students and the election. But the Public Policy Institute of California has been conducting surveys that have included a lot of young voters, typically aged 18 to 34. Compared to last midterm, they found that the share of California young voters who believe voting in this midterm is important went from 32% to 44%.
SUNNI: Wow. What do they care about?
CHARLIE: Well, out of all issues surveyed, 45% of young voters said cost of living was their top concern.
SUNNI: So in that way, they're a lot like their parents or the other adults in their lives.
CHARLIE: Absolutely, but even more so.
SUNNI: How so?
CHARLIE: Well, compared to older adults, they have felt the recent cost increases more acutely.
SUNNI: Well, you've done some reporting on the ground that supports this. What has your reporting shown you?
CHARLIE: I've gone to youth-focused campaign events for both candidates for Congress, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, and State Senator Scott Wiener. I met many high school students who were volunteering for both of the campaigns.
SUNNI: Are they old enough to vote?
CHARLIE: No, many of them cannot vote, but the issues that are gonna decide this election are issues that they're extremely energized and involved in, and they want a say in what's gonna happen.
SUNNI: Tell me about that first event that you went to.
CHARLIE: Yes, it was in State Senator Wiener's district office in the Richmond District of San Francisco. With maybe 50 teens and a handful of youth volunteers. There was a Q&A with Wiener, and then the youth gave speeches explaining why they supported him. And one of the volunteer organizers, Harper Fortgang, who recently graduated from high school, asked the group if they were worried about the direction where our country was going.
Harper Fortgang: And almost everyone, everyone in the room raised their hand. And so our democracy is hanging on by a thread, and we need a leader who is able to stand up, and I believe that leader is Scott.
SUNNI: And who else did you meet at the event?
CHARLIE: Well, I talked with the young people who were volunteering for the candidate, and I met a lot of the attendees who were in high school.
SUNNI: Well, there are a lot of issues, but which ones are most important to the youth you spoke to?
CHARLIE: What came up again and again in these conversations, Sunny, was that young people want a livable San Francisco. They want great public transit, and they want affordable housing. Public transit mattered to many of the people my age that I spoke to. Dylan Gump, who's 17, actually interned for Wiener, and he told me about why SF public transit is so important to him.
Dylan Gump: It helped me gain a sense of independence. I didn't rely on my parents to take me everywhere. And I mean, it just, it showed me a totally new aspect of the city, a total, total new areas I had not, not been to before. And, and it just gave me a complete sense of independence that I could get anywhere I really wanted to go.
SUNNI: Okay, you also met volunteers who work for Supervisor Connie Chan's campaign, right?
CHARLIE: Sunni, shortly after Wiener's, Connie Chan had a young voter's town hall. It was in Potrero Hill, and it was hosted at the Service Employees International Union Hall. There were young voters, there were youth, but there were also many adults, now even some press present at this event. The crowd was energized when Chan and South Bay Congressman Ro Khanna were talking and were interviewed by a union organizer there.
SUNNI: What are these volunteers doing for her campaign?
CHARLIE: They've done a lot. They go canvassing, they lead events, they create and even hand out campaign literature, and they also record videos for the campaign. Like, one person I talked to, a high school senior, Carmelo Foy-Marti, he spent the evening filming at the town hall, and for him, the decision to get involved was simple.
Carmello Foy-Marti: You know, this is my way of doing just a little bit for the campaign and, like, doing what I can.
SUNNI: What are some of the other issues that came up at this event?
CHARLIE: Healthcare, Medicare for all, were all addressed by Chan extensively. Another of the volunteers I spoke to, Nikethana Karthikeyan, a 17-year-old, is supportive of Chan's focus on healthcare.
Nikethana Karthikeyan: I will say her issues related to healthcare is something I really care about. And I'm glad she puts such an emphasis on it, because I feel like other campaigns fail to, in a way, because priorities with, like, AI, you know, public education. While those are all very important issues, I think healthcare is something that sometimes slips through the cracks.
CHARLIE: Volunteers like Carmelo also were very concerned about housing.
Carmello Foy-Marti: You know, I wanna go to college, but eventually end up back here in the city, and I think she has my favorite vision for what it should look like when I decide to live here…And when I come back, I'd love to, you know, be able to afford a house here.
SUNNI: Well, the young people you talk to seem to care a lot about the same issues. How do they choose which candidate to volunteer with?
CHARLIE: Sunni, this, this isn't some scientific study. These were a bunch of conversations that I had at these events, so I'm just sharing what I've heard. But one of the reasons why so many youth support Scott Wiener is his connection with the city and youth. Former San Francisco Youth Commissioner Ava Orum, who is now a freshman in college, said she believes in Scott Wiener's transit vision because of this.
Ava Orum: Also, the fact that I've just seen him on the bus, like, countless times is really giving me kind of hope that somebody who's in office will actually, like, give this issue the attention that it needs.
CHARLIE: For those supporting Chan, high school students found her relatable and as running a pro-youth campaign, like volunteer Armaan Patel.
Armaan Patel: She can relate to me not only that she is first generation here in America, but also because she has done so much with District 1 Youth Council.
SUNNI: We were talking about local issues, San Francisco issues. Did some of the volunteers you talked with, did they discuss state issues or national issues with you in your conversations with them?
CHARLIE: Absolutely. They were very concerned with the state of our democracy and at the same time wanting a leader who could stand up to the president on the issues that they cared about. And a main reason, um, I found youth were supporting either candidate was because they thought they would do a good job of that.
SUNNI: One of the things that came up very early in the primary campaign was the issue of Gaza, and Scott Wiener basically tried to take a powder on that. He wouldn't say, he wouldn't declare whether Gaza was a genocide or not, and then three days later he got some pushback. Is Gaza an issue that some of the young volunteers talk about?
CHARLIE: Well, at one of the events, I was standing outside when, it seemed to me like a young person, I don't know their exact age, screamed, "Free Palestine", into the event. And one of the people I talked to who was an attendee was actually very concerned about Wiener's stance on Gaza and came and asked Wiener a few questions. She actually came away from the event with a good impression because he was willing to be there and answer her questions fully.
SUNNI: So we know most high school students can't vote, but for young adults just a few years older, what is their participation in San Francisco's elections looking like so far?
CHARLIE: Well, the city's early voting data suggests that 14% of the ballots that have been turned in so far are from voters aged 18 to 34, the youngest demographic, and this is similar to last midterm in 2022.
SUNNI: And we'll know more soon. Thanks, Charlie.
CHARLIE: Thank you, Sunni.
