A young Pa. state representative candidate is giving his peers hands-on campaign experience

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Leo Solga started his campaign for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to bring a youthful voice to Harrisburg. Now he’s bringing in other young people to gain hands-on political experience with a campaign internship.

The 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate is running for the open seat in the 148th district of Pennsylvania, following the retirement of U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Daley, who had held the position since 2012. Along with Solga, Andrea Deutsch, Megan Griffin-Shelley and Jason Landau Goodman will be on the May 19 Democratic primary ballot.

Solga said he wants to improve youth civic engagement and is running on a platform that includes regional rail funding, a guarantee for reproductive freedoms and supporting public schools.

“We have a secondary goal of the campaign, which is to get young people involved in politics,” Solga said. “To show young people that they can run for office.”

Solga started his campaign internship to give young people the tools and experience they need for a potential future run for office, along with traditional campaign volunteer tasks, such as voter outreach and door knocking. Interns work five to seven hours a week and can receive academic credit for their work.

While there are resources to help younger candidates to prepare for a campaign, according to Solga, there are some “key components” missing. He said that hands-on experience in a state-level campaign can be “instrumental” training for future races.

“We don’t want to just have interns only understand part of the campaign,” Solga said. “Ideally we want to diffuse knowledge.”

Joining a political campaign

Leah Kallen had no political experience before joining the Solga team as an intern in January.

She saw the announcement for the opportunity on Linkedin and recognized Solga’s name — the two had gone to middle school together, going on to graduate separately from Lower Merion and Harriton High School.

The 21-year-old Amherst College student said it was a “no brainer” to reach out and ask if she can support the team. Even though she had never been a part of anything like a campaign before, Kallen thought “now more than ever” was the time to get involved.

“I feel really passionate about it and I want to just learn more about what it looks like to be helping out with something like this,” Kallen said.

As an intern, she drafts emails, verifies signatures on various petitions and helps cull through event photos. Even though these kinds of small tasks can seem insignificant, Kallen said they can add up to be noteworthy.

“I feel like every win, every small step towards bringing a win home for Pa. feels so rewarding for me,” Kallen said.

The younger generation driving change

Kallen said she always encourages her friends at Amherst to get to the polls and cast their ballots. With people from across the country on campus, she sees the hoops some students have to jump through to vote, whether it be difficulties with mail-in-ballots or having them rejected outright.

It’s frustrating, she said, but it is important not to give up.

“We’re being handed a world that is not in the best state right now,” Kallen said. “I think if we want to see change, we’re the ones that have to create that change.”

Yael Broudo, a 19-year-old intern who works on social media and designs graphics for the Solga team, said she thinks having a 22-year-old running for office will make others in their 20s feel like their voice matters.

With younger candidates campaigning on platforms that speak to people their own age, young voters will be more incentivized to cast their ballot, Broudo added.

“I feel like a lot of younger people that are interested in politics feel like the majority of people in government [only] represent views that align with people much older than them,” Broudo said. “So I feel like him being a younger candidate is a really big advantage in that way.”

Solga said he felt underrepresented by Pennsylvania’s elected officials as a younger candidate, particularly as a Democrat. The only representatives in their 20s in Harrisburg are Republicans.

“I just am frustrated that the Democratic party is letting the Republicans have that angle,” Solga said. “It’s absurd.”

Pennsylvania Democrats are lacking crucial experience, according to Solga. There aren’t representatives who went to high school during the COVID-19 pandemic or had to navigate college with the rise of ChatGPT.

“If we want to inspire, engage, deliver young voters, we need to show them that we’re not just trying to get them for volunteering, for interning,” Solga said. “We actually want to see young people have a seat at the table making legislative decisions.”

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series on Youth Civic Engagement funded by the William Penn Foundation. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.