Elijah Mack
| Elijah Mack | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elijah Mack 2004/11/23 Seattle, Washington |
| 🏡 Residence | Santa Barbara County, CA |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 🏢 Organisation | California State GOP, Grand Young Party, The Wild Reset |
| 🏛️ Political party | Republican |
| @ElijahForCA | |
Elijah Mack is a youth activist, political strategist, and past Republican Candidate for California State Senate District #21 in the 2024 election. If elected, Mack would have taken office at the age of twenty, making him California's youngest-ever State Senator. Mack was the youngest individual to run for a State Legislative seat in the 2024 U.S. Election, and one of the youngest in U.S. history to run for a state's Upper House. Mack is the founder and chairperson of 'Grand Young Party', a grassroots, youth-based noncompetitive caucus of the Republican Party aimed at improving GOP messaging and policy to reflect the concerns and interests of Gen Z Republicans and successfully reach out to youth and moderate voters.
Electoral Accomplishments
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In his 2024 campaign for California State Senate #21, Mack's district was larger in population and voter registration than the average Congressional District, yet notably, Mack was initially expected to acquire the largest percentage of votes a non-Democrat legislative candidate in the Santa Barbara area has received in multiple cycles, while operating a grassroots campaign running on ~6,500$ (A microscopic fraction of his opponent's cash on hand). Mack received greater positive response to local media interviews than his opponent (in the form of public interest, interview views, likes on associated articles and videos, etc.), while, in the weeks up to the election, he reported public google trends data apparently showing that he was leading his opponent in search queries. Mack's YouTube ads were viewed for over 30 seconds over 200k times on at least 100k devices.
In the end, though, while Mack outperformed Santa Barbara's previous Republican candidate for State Senate, and received a greater percentage of votes than Thomas Cole, the Republican Candidate for his nearly identically-drawn Congressional District, Mack was unable to circumvent his district's Democrat Majority and the negative impact of his ballot designation as a "college student" with the resources he had on hand as potentially the least-funded Republican State Senate candidate in California. Mack ultimately received 37% of the vote.
Ideology and Influences
Mack identifies, first and foremost as a pragmatic and practical Libertarian, desiring that Government works towards "fostering an environment in which our communities, economies, society, and ecosystems can survive and thrive organically, with as little dependence on, or corruption by, the State and private interests as possible". Mack desires to create a political worldview that "speaks to all political sentiments and concerns, and affirms the truth in all ideologies", in a fashion built upon the Libertarian principles of free-markets, self-ownership, and voluntary interaction.
Mack stands for Classical Liberal (or Free-Market) Economic principles while also supporting and calling for widespread involvement in mutual aid societies, traditional trade unions, cooperatives, charitable groups and other voluntary organizations. On the subject of Environmentalism, Mack aligns with Classical Environmentalist sentiments, and holds that a movement towards Economic Localism, regenerative agricultural practices, and the large-scale implementation of Nuclear Energy are among the few long-term, cost-effective solutions to climate change and environmental degradation, distancing himself from advocates for wind and solar subsidy or the imposition of Environmentalist regulations beyond those that prevent direct harm to the person or property of others or protected lands.
Mack is heavily influenced by American Transcendentalist thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Austrian Economists such as Hayek and Rothbard, and Alternative Libertarian Theorists like Roderick T. Long, while also drawing influence from Distributist theories and Catholic Economic Teachings. Mack has also expressed a degree of affinity for technoskeptic thinkers like Jaques Ellul, while rejecting the Primitivism of thinkers like John Zerzan and Pentti Linkola. Mack has stated that he identifies Bill Kauffman (Libertarian, Distributist, Agrarian, and Localist political theorist) as a figure who holds more opinions and influences in common with himself than any other notable thinker, though acknowledging a difference of opinion between himself and kauffman on issues of foreign policy and state succession.
Personal Life
Mack was born on November 23rd, 2004, in Seattle, Washington. His father, at the time, was a Free Methodist minister, and early in Mack's life, both his parents converted to Roman Catholicism. His religious upbringing and current faith have greatly influenced his personal philosophy and ideology.
Mack is a multi-instrumentalist musician, in his free time also studying Christian Theology and Eastern Religion. Mack is a third-degree Odd Fellow (IOOF), an initiated member of AMOS, and a collector fraternitarian memorabilia, with an interest also in nineteenth-century Americana, as well as Scandinavian culture, language, and history.
Other Political Activities
Mack is presently a Republican activist, but has worked with several political parties and activism organizations prior to his campaign, including the Libertarian Party, the Libertarian Youth Caucus of California (which he served as the Vice President of prior to campaigning), Young America's Foundation/Young Americans for Freedom, and to a lesser extent the Forward Party and the US Pirate Party.
Mack was the founder of the Libertarian Party Wild Caucus, the Libertarian Party's 'Green Wing', influenced by Transcendentalist and classical Agrarian thought. Currently, he serves as the founder and chair of the Grand Young Party.
![Logo of [the] Grand Young Party](/File:GYPlogo.png)
