March For Our Lives issues its first presidential endorsement

March For Our Lives, one of the largest youth-led movements in the country, has issued its first endorsement, announcing their support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency. The gun safety advocacy group cited Harris’ work on gun violence prevention throughout her political career, including her leadership of the White House’s new Office of Gun Violence Prevention, as the catalyst for their endorsement.

David Hogg, the group’s co-founder, said in a statement: “Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives. Given her strong record on gun safety and prioritizing youth voices during her time in office, I’m proud that Kamala Harris will receive March For Our Lives’ first-ever endorsement, and I’m so excited for our work to mobilize young people for her campaign.”

At the start of the Biden-Harris administration, March For Our Lives issued a series of demands for the new White House occupants. The administration met at least three of them: creating an Office of Gun Violence Prevention; allocating at least $1 billion in funding for evidence-based community intervention programming; and recognizing gun violence as a national public health crisis.

Natalie Fall, the executive director of March For Our Lives, told The 19th that she feels “excited and really energized” at this moment. “The shift in things is really palpable. Folks are ready to just throw down everything we have to help Kamala Harris defeat Donald Trump.”

She added: “Young folks are energized by her candidacy and are optimistic that she will be the kind of leader that listens to young people, that gives them a seat at the table for honest and meaningful input on policies. That’s the reason that we decided to make this first-ever endorsement: It just felt like the right moment.”

Research from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found that young voters will have the most impact on the presidential election in Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan — all critical swing states. Polling done by the group in November 2023 — long before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris — found that 57 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 were “extremely likely” to vote in 2024, with gun violence as one of their top three issues.

Earlier this summer, March For Our Lives announced an election initiative focused specifically on Arizona, New York, Michigan and Florida — all states where they believe the youth vote could tip the scales in not only the presidential election, but down-ballot races as well.

In an April call with reporters following the announcement of a new Department of Justice rule that closed the “gun show loophole,” requiring background checks to be completed before firearms can be sold at shows or online, Harris spoke emphatically about the need for more regulations.

“Every person in our nation has a right to live free from the horror of gun violence. I believe that. And yet today, one in five Americans has a family member who was killed by gun violence,” Harris said. She also emphasized that gun violence is the leading cause of death for American children. “And you know, it just does not have to be this way.”

The vice president emphasized that for too long, Americans have been caught between debates about Second Amendment protections and gun safety measures. “It’s a false choice to suggest that you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m in favor of the Second Amendment, and I am in favor of reasonable gun safety laws,” she said.

Fall said the Office of Gun Violence Prevention has taken a survivor-centered approach to their work, including tapping two gun violence survivors to serve as co-deputy directors. “They are really laser-focused on putting survivors at the center of this conversation around policy-making and implementing solutions,” she said.

March For Our Lives was founded in 2018 by survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, kicking off their work with the largest youth-led march in 50 years. The group conducted yet another record-setting march in 2022, following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. The organization has contacted millions of first-time voters and is involved in lobbying and advocacy efforts at the state and federal level.

Polling done by the group in the advance of the 2022 midterms found that 50 percent of young voters believe they will be a victim of gun violence.

The 2022 polling also found that younger voters are less likely to support candidates who back funding for more armed school resource officers while opposing other gun safety measures. A 57 percent majority also said they are more likely to support a candidate who wants to pass universal background checks, raise the gun-buying age to 21 and pass an assault weapons ban.

“The change in energy and in the momentum over the past three days has been palpable. You look everywhere, you see on social media — there’s just engagement around her candidacy at a level that was non-existent before,” Fall stressed. She added, “It remains to be seen how much of that energy and momentum can be sustained, but that’s the task that we have at March For Our Lives.We’re ready to go and throw all of our resources at it.”

Fall said that this endorsement doesn’t mean that the group will not call on Harris to do more. “Our job is not done by simply putting our stamp of approval on her candidacy,” she said. “We intend to really be vocal about what we hope and expect to see from her candidacy and, hopefully eventually, presidency.”