March for Our Lives has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race for the White House. It’s the first time the youth-focused gun reform group has endorsed a political candidate.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” March for Our Lives wrote in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “As one of the largest youth-led movements in the nation, we are clear-eyed about the challenge ahead and we believe that Kamala Harris is uniquely suited to meet this moment.”
March for Our Lives was founded 2018 by survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Since their historic 2018 demonstration in Washington, D.C, the group has grown into one of the largest gun reform activist groups in the county, organizing national and local protests, promoting gun safety legislation, and representing the voices of young Americans in major Second Amendment court cases.
The endorsement of Harris comes less than two weeks after former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, was injured in an assassination attempt carried out by a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle. Despite the shooting, gun culture was prevalent days later at the Republican National Convention. Trump has vowed to loosen gun laws should he win in November, telling the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in May that he wants to “roll back every Biden attack on the Second Amendment.”
“The country that young people will soon inherit stands at the precipice,” March for Our Lives added in its statement endorsing Harris. “On one side, authoritarianism that threatens our fundamental rights, including our right to live freely without fear of gun violence; on the other, a world where we can keep fighting to build the future that young people know we deserve,” they added. “We need an ardent defender of democracy, a gun violence prevention champion, and a leader who will listen to young people, give us a seat at the table, and fight for our future. We believe that Kamala Harris is that candidate, and the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve.”
Natalie Fall, Executive Director of March For Our Lives, said that that the group would work to organize the youth vote for Harris in critical swing states. “March For Our Lives will work to mobilize young people across the country to support Vice President Harris and other down-ballot candidates, with a particular focus on the states and races where we can make up the margin of victory — in Arizona, New York, Michigan, and Florida,” she wrote.
Harris leads the who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and in March visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, touring the classroom where the mass shooting took place. March for Our Lives lauded Harris as a lawmaker actively engaged with their mission. “Since becoming Vice President, she has met regularly with advocates and survivors of gun violence, and we’ve had the pleasure of working with her as she’s led the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention,” the group wrote in its endorsement. “Importantly, Vice President Harris has put gun violence survivors at the center of policymaking, demonstrating her commitment to empowering those most impacted by the issue to implement the right solutions.”
Earlier this year, March for Our Lives Co-Chair Trevon Bosley detailed the group’s ongoing mission in an op-ed for Rolling Stone. “When young people say we want gun safety, we also mean universal health care and mental health services, economic opportunity, an end to the carceral system and an investment in community programs, funding for our schools and children, and a safety support network that doesn’t let people fall through the cracks,” he wrote. “When we invest in these social programs, we’re investing in our people and in our communities, making them more prosperous and safer.”
March for Our Lives joins President Biden, the vast majority of Democrats in Congress, every Democratic governor, and a slew of other notable voices in endorsing Harris for president. The campaign announced on Wednesday that it has raised over $100 million since Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday.
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