This Awesome 24-Year-Old Is Running for Congress

Meet Erin Schrode, the 24-year-old running for Congress in California’s District 2.

Tired of her beliefs and gender not being represented in office, Schrode decided to do something crazy – she would run herself.

In a video posted by NowThis Election, Schrode says, “There are a million reasons why I should not run for office, but I’m doing it.”

Schrode mentions how she doesn’t really fit any of the molds that typically go with people running for office, which is precisely why she says she would make a good candidate. She’s running a grassroots campaign that has three main principles: environmentalism, education, and human rights.

According to her website, she never wanted to be a politician. However, after giving a speech one day about her home town, upbringing, and overall life, she was asked if she would ever consider running for office, according to Marie Claire.  

It was a friend who finally convinced her to run for office.

“I talked to friends and mentors, and my best friend said, ‘Yeah, there’s a million reasons why you should wait. But why not run while you wait?'” she told Marie Claire.

But Schrode has had the makings of a politician ever since childhood when she witnessed her mother launching a door-to-door campaign to discover why Marin County, her hometown, had the highest breast, prostate, and melanoma cancer rates in the world.

She then co-founded Turning Green, an environmental advocate agency, when she was just 13 years old.

“We think of politicians as a different breed of human,” she says in the video,” and one of the goals of our campaign is to expand the definition of a politician, expand the definition of who can run.”

Schrode is running against three other candidates in the June 7 primary.

“I have faith in humanity,” she writes on her website. “I trust in the power of community. And I maintain hope in the promise of our generation and nation.”

Watch the video below about Schrode and see that age is just a number.