A Binghamton University student ran for Broome County Legislature in the most recent election, hoping to elevate student voices in the local lawmaking process.

Jackson White, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law (PPL), was the Democratic nominee for Broome County’s first legislative district, an area encompassing the towns of Colesville, Fenton, portions of the town of Kirkwood and the city of Binghamton. He lost the race to incumbent Republican Stephen Flagg, receiving 26 percent of the vote.

White was raised in Broome County and the greater Binghamton area and has been politically active since his high school years. He began his involvement with local politics in 2016, when he worked for Democrat Kim Myers’ congressional campaign against Republican Claudia Tenney, who is currently leading in an uncalled race for NY-22. In 2018, White took part in current NY-22 Rep. Anthony Brindisi’s campaign. This year, he wanted to get involved on a different level.

“In 2020, I approached the Broome County Democratic Party about potentially running for a position of my own,” White said. “There’s not a lot of young people in politics, in this area specifically, and I felt that we deserve to have younger perspectives in those rooms when big political decisions are made. People my age dictate the economy in this area. Not entirely, but the University is a big reason why this area has prospered in recent years. I’ve been living in the area since I was four years old, and the more and more prevalent that [BU] has become in our town, I’ve seen the better this area has gotten.”

As a young person and BU student, White felt that he should run to amplify voices like his in Broome County. According to his campaign’s Facebook page, his platform was to prioritize issues affecting young people in the area with an emphasis on issues of mental health and racial injustice, alongside working to fix the issues affecting all Broome County residents, including COVID-19 relief and ending the drug epidemic.

However, as a current student, he ran into some challenges managing his coursework along with the campaign process and getting his name and platform out to the people of his district.

“It was hard running a campaign and balancing schoolwork, especially during a global pandemic,” White said. “It was really difficult to get my name out there, especially since you can’t go door to door. The few times that it was safe to go door-knocking, I had to balance that with my work and schoolwork as well, so it was a lot of hours of my day to be consumed. But being engaged in the democratic process in this way, regardless of your politics, is a really rewarding feeling.”

Although the process was time-consuming, White had help managing his campaign from the Broome County Democratic Party.

“I never realized how many people are involved in local politics until I ran,” White said. “There’s so many people who you will never find on a ballot who are doing important political things. Whether they’re volunteers or people who work at headquarters, there are so many people who do the legwork of our democracy who we never see. It makes you hopeful to see so many people being involved.”

Even though White lost his bid for the seat, he expressed that this should not discourage young people from running for office or being politically engaged and active in their local community.

“I’ve found that politicians, especially at the local level, are really willing to get into contact with you,” White said. “They’ll want to engage with you, especially if you’re young. I can only speak to the [Democratic National Convention (DNC)] in this area because they are the people that I was involved with in this election, but they want young people in politics because they recognize that we’re the future.”