Hawaii lawmakers officially launched the state’s Future Caucus on Thursday — the first program of its kind at the state level, modeled after a national caucus co-founded last year by U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
State and county leaders said they plan to use the caucus as a platform for promoting bipartisanship and engaging young leaders.
"That’s what young people are all about," Honolulu City Councilman Stanley Chang, a co-founder of the caucus, said Thursday during an informational forum held at the state Capitol. "It’s about getting things done, it’s about working together. We may not all agree all the time, but where there is common ground — let’s work together."
Gabbard, who has been traveling the islands this week meeting with constituents, attended the forum to speak of how the national caucus hopes to usher in an era of collaboration and bipartisanship in politics.
"Essentially, it’s about a mindset," she said. "It’s about people who are of like mind who are solution-oriented, who are not willing to sit around and wait for things to happen."
Members of the bipartisan caucus gathered to launch the group with Gabbard, community members who compose its advisory panel, and Steven Olikara, co-founder and president of the Millennial Action Project, which helped form the national Future Caucus.
Olikara said it’s important to remember that many of people who have been catalysts for change in the nation were young.
"When we talk about the great American leaders we talk about them like they’re 80 years old (but) a more careful read of history tells a different story," he said.
Olikara pointed out that Thomas Jefferson penned "All men are created equal" at age 32; James Madison was elected to the second Continental Congress at 29; and Martin Luther King Jr. led the Montgomery bus boycott when he was 24 and delivered his "I have a dream" speech at age 33.
"The story of this history tells us young people have been at the center of inventing America and reinventing it as time has gone on," Olikara said.
Gabbard, a Democrat, co-founded the congressional caucus with U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., who spoke to the Hawaii audience via conference call to encourage local lawmakers, regardless of party, to work together.
"As a Republican state (representative) myself, in Illinois, I’ve served in the minority in the House and the Senate, I’ve served in the minority in Congress — now in the majority — and I will tell you that oftentimes I was able to get more done in the minority if I were a willing participant with the party in the majority," he said.
Local elected officials noted that the caucus also hopes to increase voter turnout among young people by devising ways to invite more of them to take part in the political process.
Rep. Beth Fukumoto (R, Mililani-Mililani Mauka-Waipio Acres), a co-founder of the state’s caucus along with Chang and state Rep. Takashi Ohno (D, Nuuanu-Liliha-Alewa Heights), said the group this year plans to create educational videos, host more talk-story-style town hall meetings and visit schools so "people can see us and interact with us and realize that we’re not all that different — we just decided one day … that we needed more young people in government."
Though the caucus was created to bring together elected officials under age 40, Gabbard said its main objective is to promote collaboration and respect among all elected leaders. Being open to the thoughts and decisions of a single elected official means respecting the concerns of the people that person represents, she said.
"Whether you’re in the majority or you’re in the minority, it doesn’t really matter," Gabbard told the audience. "Because the bottom line is that each of us — no matter where we serve or what our position is — we have a responsibility to deliver results for those who entrusted us to work hard to address their challenges."
