In the wake of the 2018 Midterms, where more than two-dozen ‘NRA backed’ politicians were booted, the Parkland survivors and Mark For Our Lives organizers just had one thing to say: Bye, Felicia.
Nearly nine months after the massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the survivors of the deadly school shooting watched the Midterm elections on Nov. 6 with eager eyes — especially the governor’s race between Andrew Gillum, 39, and Ron DeSantis, 40. Those who organized the “March For Our Lives” rallies also vowed to eliminate congress of National Rife Association-backed lawmakers across the nation, so the world waited to see what the Parkland kids – David Hogg, 18, Emma Gonzalez, 18, Sari Kaufman, 16, and more — would say in response to the results. David didn’t need a lot of words when he found out that Barbara Comstock (R-Va) was defeated. “Bye @BarbaracComstock,” he tweeted.
“Sending my thoughts and prayers to every NRA back politician tonight,” his sister, Lauren Hogg, tweeted. David once claimed that when he, Lauren, and Lauryn Renford once walked by Barbara’s officer, “her staffers saw us and slammed the door,” per The Hill. Ms. Comstock would lose her seat to Democrat Jennifer Wexton. According to civil rights activist Michael Skolnik, “27 NRA backed candidates lost tonight! The most ever.” This news was reteweeted by Jacyln Corin, co-founder of March For Our Lives. “And we’re not going anywhere, @NRA”
After Andrew Gillum conceded the election, Cameron Kasky, co-founder of the March For Our Lives, told his followers to keep their chins up. “And we’ll get it next time. Until then, we won’t stop working to make the state the safest, best place possible,” he tweeted. “Tonight was filled with wins and losses for both parties. No matter who you are or how you feel, never give up on civic engagement. Keep on fighting. That being said, you’ve all earned some rest. Take tomorrow off the internet. Focus on the good stuff. We’ll come back stronger.”
It feels “more like 60 years” since the shooting at Parkland left 17 dead, David told Mother Jones. David, who was accepted into the University of California, Irvine, took a gap year in order to work on the Midterm elections. The “road to Change” bus covered 25 states in 60 days, as the March For Our Lives (MFOL) activists worked to maintain their momentum to reform the nation’s gun laws. “We’ve spoken in more congressional districts than almost any presidential campaign has in the same time span,” David told Mother Jones. “We know what America’s thinking right now.”
“They’re craving to be able to reform policies, craving to be able to organize and mobilize in their communities—and we noticed they just needed the push and the movement and the inspiration,” Bria Smith, a violence prevention advocate, said in a joint interview with David. “Growing up, I was so conditioned and normalized by the brutality and the violence in my community…I’d never felt like I had a platform to speak on injustices and be able to uplift my voices of brown and black youth back in my home.”
“We know that we can win, but the only way that we can win is if those people that actually say they want change go out and advocate,” David added. “The only way that the people will get this change is by voting on November 6.” No matter what happened or who was in control of Congress, one thing was for sure: the Parkland kids would not give up their efforts to make #NeverAgain a reality.
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