Cameron Kasky

"I am part of the Mass Shooting Generation, and it's an ugly club to be in."

"As a school shooting survivor, I began my life calling for an end to the mass murder of innocent children and adults using weapons manufactured by the United States. Witnessing the ongoing genocide in Gaza has served as a haunting, serious reminder that it is my life’s purpose to advocate against violence everywhere. My classmates had the right to a future they never got. The countless Palestinians our weapons continue to slaughter have the same rights. Human beings deserve healthcare, jobs, housing, and all the rights our country systematically withholds. It is my mission to fight for our fellow human beings’ right to live in dignity and prosperity."

"Cameron Kasky is a fighter. He knows what it’s like to be failed by the American political system. In 2018, Cameron survived the massacre at his high school in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 human beings. Faced with unspeakable tragedy, he united his classmates and led March For Our Lives, one of the largest movements in U.S. history. As a teenager, he stood up to Marco Rubio and the Republicans bought off by the gun lobby, and worked with legislators in Washington to pass life-saving gun safety legislation. But it’s not just about taking on MAGA: it’s about disrupting the system where both parties have paved the way for Trump’s regime. In the face of rising authoritarianism, Cameron is ready to take the fight back to Capitol Hill and represent progressive values for the greatest city in the world."

"At 25 years old, Cameron Kasky is certain that he’s too young to be dealing with the back pain he’s been feeling. But the Democratic socialist and activist, who is announcing on Tuesday morning that he’s the latest entrant in a crowded primary to replace the 78-year-old representative Jerrold Nadler in New York’s 12th Congressional District, also thinks that the circumstances of his arrival in politics “fast-forwarded my aging a little bit.” At 17, Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, cofounded the gun-violence prevention group March for Our Lives. The work brought him to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers; it also led to his being swatted and doxxed."

"Parkland school shooting survivor Cameron Kasky is running for New York’s open congressional seat. Kasky, 24, filed his candidacy this week, according to Federal Election Commission records. His move comes a month after Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said he would retire in 2027. The activist, who did not respond to requests for comment, nodded to his run by changing his Instagram bio to “politician” on Tuesday and adding a link to his donation page. “All I can say at the moment is that the next generation of Democratic leaders will fight big tech, work to abolish ICE and hold immigration enforcement accountable, and reject money from organizations operating solely in the interest of right wing nationalist foreign governments,” he wrote. In high school, Kasky co-founded the gun violence prevention group March for Our Lives, which later faced funding shortfalls and internal turmoil. Like his would-be predecessor, the Florida native attended Columbia University before withdrawing to pursue activism full-time. He is now a contributor at The Bulwark and an MSNBC pundit. The race for New York’s 12th District is shaping up to be crowded—and possibly star-studded—with Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s grandson, also exploring a run."

"On 14 February 2018 a former pupil entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. After six minutes and 20 seconds of carnage, three teachers and 14 of Cameron Kasky's fellow students lay dead. The geography teacher Scott Biegel, whom Kasky had known well, died protecting his students from gunfire. When the shooting broke out, Kasky had been rushing to pick up his younger brother from a special needs class. Hustled into the nearest classroom, the brothers spent the remainder of the attack hiding in the dark, not knowing if the door would be opened by the shooter or a rescuer."

"Starting the night of the attack, Kasky and a handful of his classmates took to social media, demanding stricter gun control laws and the right to be able to go to school without the fear of being killed. As they typed and posted, the hashtag #NeverAgain went viral. "I found myself frantically Facebook posting. It was what I knew how to do," he says. "The next morning I was getting all these calls from reporters." The same thing happened to his friends. As well as doing broadcast interviews, Kasky wrote online comment pieces and - a week after the attack - he took part in a televised town-hall event. Standing in front of a large crowd of his peers and neighbours, he confronted Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio over the money he had received from the National Rifle Association. "Senator Rubio can you tell me right now that you would not accept a single NRA donation in the future?" he demanded. The room exploded into chants and cheers. Kasky looked stunned and overwhelmed. He had just put one of the nation's most prominent politicians on the spot, live on national television. As momentum gathered behind the young campaigners, Kasky co-founded the group March For Our Lives and set about organising a demonstration in the nation's capital. Six weeks after the attack, on 24 March 2018, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington DC for the March For Our Lives protest. The Parkland students demanded a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and stricter background checks for those wishing to buy guns."

"He is currently applying for college and plans to revive a podcast series, Cameron Kasky Knows Nothing - "my journey towards understanding folks who disagree with me" as he put it in the trailer. But what does he hope the legacy of the movement he co-founded will be? "I think the thing that March For Our Lives did for this country was, we told a whole generation of kids, 'We need to start working together, we need to start thinking. And just because we are little, does not mean we are inadequate when it comes to being part of the conversation.'""

"Cameron Kasky could become the youngest member of Congress if he pulls off a win in the crowded race to replace New York's retiring 12th District Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, 78, next year. But despite being in his mid-twenties, the longtime political activist is no stranger to the spotlight and taking bold action to push for change.< As a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, which killed 17 people and injured 18, Kasky went on to co-found the student-led group Never Again MSD, advocating for stricter gun regulations to prevent future violence. Kasky also helped organize the nationwide March for Our Lives demonstration in March 2018. While that experience gave him a national profile and allowed him to meet people across the country, the 25-year-old said it also made him lose hope for a time. "I had to watch so many people burst into tears right before my eyes and tell me that I gave them hope. But I had lost hope myself," Kasky, who identifies as a democratic socialist, told Newsweek in a Wednesday Zoom interview. But from that experience of becoming jaded, he's now emerged determined to continue the fight. "I lacked the understanding that change takes longer than we thought it would," he said."

"Now, Kasky aims to bring his efforts to the halls of Congress, focusing his campaign on promoting an unabashedly progressive agenda. Those goals include passing Medicare-for-All, focusing on affordability, abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, fighting the AI oligarchs and ending all U.S. funding to Israel, among others. The young progressive's agenda appears aligned with the moment for many on the left—particularly within New York City. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani just won a significant upset victory in the nation's largest city's election, resoundingly defeating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo first in the Democratic primary and then again in the general election last month. That victory came after a staunchly progressive campaign focused on affordability, taxing the wealthy and criticizing Israel's war in Gaza, with millions in billionaire money spent against him to prop up his opponent. "The people in this district want progressive leadership in the country, and that is my agenda," Kasky told Newsweek. As is the case with many Democratic voters, Kasky believes the party needs to reprioritize and change strategy to meet the moment."

"The progressive shift comes as current Democratic Party leaders are historically unpopular, according to multiple recent polls, as many progressive voters look for major reforms and changes. Meanwhile, November polling by Data for Progress showed that Medicare-for-All, long maligned by critics as far-left and socialist, is backed by nearly two-thirds of voters, including a majority of independents and nearly half of Republicans. And poll results published by Gallup in September showed favorable views of socialism hit a new high of 66 percent among Democrats."