Future Caucus - formerly Millennial Action Project

If you’ve ever picked up Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Empire of Pain” for your summer bookclub (you know, just a little light reading), you know that America’s opioid crisis is a public health **emergency.**

Reps. Dr. Megan Srinivas, D-Iowa, Dr. Jennifer Mandelbaum, D-N.H., and Daniel Pae, R-Okla., understand the emergency all too well and are each proposing innovative approaches to harm reduction. Woven through all their stories is the amount of dedication, listening, and cross-partisan negotiation it takes to address such a complex and widespread crisis — a threat that doesn’t care who you voted for.

When you have a background in medicine or public health research, like Srinivas and Mandelbaum, and you have the data to back your stance, like Pae, trust comes much more easily, and with that trust come policies that save lives.

The latest story in our Young Lawmakers’ Storybank highlights the work these three lawmakers are doing to shape harm reduction in their states. Link to the story in our comments!

✨ Nominations are NOW OPEN for the 9th Annual Rising Star Awards! ✨

Three awards spotlight exceptional cross-partisan leaders in statehouses and Congress:

✨ The Rising Star Award recognizes Gen Z and millennial state legislators from both parties whose cross-partisan work has led to measurable impact on a state-level challenge.

🤝 The Cherisse Eatmon Collective Impact Award honors a partnership of two or more young state legislators who have driven cross-partisan progress on a challenging public issue.

🇺🇲 The Jacob K. Javits Prize for Bipartisan Leadership is awarded to members of Congress who have bridged partisan divides on issues of urgent national concern, resulting in legislative achievements that advance the public interest.

If you know a leader reshaping what politics can be, this is your chance to elevate their work. Submit your nominations at the link in our comments below!

When Rep. Justis Gibbs, D-Miss., stood on the steps of a Jackson courthouse in early 2025, he was surrounded by women who had survived Mississippi’s correctional system. One of them was Susie Balfour, who later passed away from cancer after years of exposure to industrial cleaning chemicals while incarcerated.

That day was the catalyst for House Bill 1444.

Signed into law last month, HB 1444 requires the MS Dept. of Corrections to (a) maintain written policies for handling cleaning and dangerous chemicals and (b) ensure incarcerated people can read those policies at any time.

As a freshman Democrat in a superminority, Gibbs—Mississippi Future Caucus Co-Chair and Innovation Fellow—saw an earlier version of the bill die on the Senate floor. He didn’t refile and hope. He rebuilt it, built and leaned on relationships across the aisle, and got it passed unanimously in both chambers.

“I did this in honor of Ms. Balfour and all the ones who did not have the capacity to fight for themselves.”

Read the full story of how this law came to be—link in bio.

Earlier this month I attended an Future Caucus - formerly Millennial Action Project reception in Harrisburg. The Future Caucus is a bipartisan group of state legislations under 45 focused on finding ways to collaborate, sharing ideas across our Nation, and turning down the political tone. As a member of their nationwide AI Taskforce, I'm looking forward to continuing to work with them and my colleagues in Harrisburg.

Some politicians are talking about “beautiful maps.” Others are lawyering up over them. And amidst all the noise around redistricting, state lawmakers are just trying to do their jobs.

Across the country, the topic of redistricting has turned congressional maps into political spectacle. But for the lawmakers tasked with governing in states that are being redistricted, the stakes feel higher. They’re not worried about who has the most “beautiful map” (can Gen Zers even read a map?), they’re concerned about the process of redistricting and ensuring the people of their state are represented fairly and accurately. 

In our latest Young Lawmakers’ Storybank, Rep. Brandon Woodard, D-Kan., and Rep. Doug Fiefia, R-Utah, share what happened when the national redistricting fight landed in their statehouses.

Despite hailing from vastly different states and serving in opposing parties, both lawmakers arrived at the same place: the best governance is transparent, accountable, and grounded in the will of the voters.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

A new chapter of leadership is beginning in Delaware! We’re excited to welcome Senator Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, as the newest co-chair of the Delaware Future Caucus, where he’ll join Rep. Michael Smith, R-Pike Creek Valley, in leading a new generation of cross-partisan leadership in the First State.

Since being elected in 2018, Brown has built a reputation as one of Delaware’s leading voices on criminal justice reform and economic opportunity, helping advance landmark bipartisan legislation like the Clean Slate Act and Adult Expungement Reform Act. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Future Caucus Criminal Justice Innovation Fellow, he’s shown what bold, solutions-oriented leadership can look like in practice.

We’re excited for what’s ahead in Delaware. Join us in welcoming Sen. Brown to Future Caucus leadership! 👏

Gen Zers and millennials across the country are proving that when elected, they get sh*t done. (Y’all mind if we cuss a little?) 🤭

A new feature from The Renovator on Substack tells the story of two lawmakers in our network who are getting sh*t DONE! Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, and Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock, both co-chairs of the Arkansas Future Caucus, came together across party lines to confront their state’s maternal mortality crisis. 

Through Future Caucus’ Prenatal-to-Three Innovation Fellowship, Pilkington and Hudson spent months researching the issue, consulting with healthcare providers, Medicaid administrators, policy experts, advocates, and families to better understand the gaps in care and what meaningful solutions could look like.

What emerged became the bipartisan Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act, a sweeping maternal health package signed into law last year by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

But this story is about more than one bill.

The article highlights how at Future Caucus we’re helping a rising generation of leaders to tackle the issues shaping everyday life for young Americans: maternal health, childcare, housing affordability, AI, workforce development, and more.

This story is worth your time. Head to the link in our bio to read it.