WSU Student Running For Congress Behind Millennial Involvement, Activism

Divided on several crucial social and political issues, the Pew Research Center reported half of the Millennial generation does not align with a specific political party. Instead, a growing number of Americans born between 1980-2000 view themselves as political independents as the younger generation searches for answers to the ever-changing social landscape.

Matthew Sunderland, a 25-year-old Washington State University undergraduate returning for his second bachelor’s degree and attempting to run for congress in 2018, believes the answers will come with an increased involvement from the Millennial generation.

Sunderland is running against Ben Stuckart for the Democratic nomination, with the winner in the primary going head-to-head against Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R).

“It is vital,” Sunderland said, when asked of the importance of college students being active in politics. “In the Fifth Congressional District, we have over 60,000 enrolled students. That is an insane amount of people, but our representatives, and often the candidates, will have poor outreach or outright ignore our needs and voices.”

Sunderland recently joined the National Guard after serving as a reservist in the Army. He has never run for any student government or student body position, like ASWSU, but said he felt a calling to be a political activist instead.

From the classroom stemmed his interest in politics with Sunderland getting his first bachelor’s in pre-law political science. He already had enough of the prerequisites to declare for his physics degree, which is is currently pursuing, with the combination formulating his passion for politics.

“I’m not stopping,” Sunderland said with a chuckle. “I took Physics for Scientists and Engineers and really liked it. And so I went on to work in a solar cell research lab to really get into it, and take Modern Physics from which I still have nightmares about Schrodinger equations.”

Keeping with the theme of empowering students and the Millennial generation, Sunderland appointed another fellow WSU undergrad to be his campaign manager.

Gavin Pielow, president of the WSU Young Democrats group on campus, agrees with Sunderland’s notion of giving a voice to those who have before gone unheard.

“Student involvement in politics is paramount,” Pielow said. “First off, the best, easiest, and most potent way students can address social issues is holding our representatives accountable by showing up to vote. Secondly, fostering a dialogue to lens the perspective among students will promote ideas to be shared, challenged and engaged with.”

The Cougar political pair have focused their message to reach a mixed audience of both older and younger voters in the district. However, with over 20,000 undergraduates around them walking the campus daily, Pielow said the campaign will aid current and future Cougars including an impact on college debt and community involvement.  

“Our campaign will bring about a representative for the 5^th,” Pielow said. “That's working to help current and future Cougs by alleviating the burden of college debt and restoring our economy. Hopefully the Sutherland for Congress campaign inspires future Cougs to roll up their sleeves, fight for what they believe in, and go hands-on with civic engagement with their community.”

Sources:

Matthew Sunderland: 253-282-3000

Gavin Pielow: 541-990-0197