Alabama’s Republican Party has launched a new initiative called Project Future Generation, aimed at drawing young people into party activity through direct outreach and engagement with local GOP organizing.
The program’s public debut came into sharper focus on Monday at a GOP rally in Northwest Alabama, where high school senior Harrison Chandler, one of the initiative’s leaders, addressed a crowd made up largely of Baby Boomer and Gen X attendees. His remarks followed a tribute video to Charlie Kirk that had first aired at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas.
“The question that we need to sit with tonight is: what are we going to do with what we have been given?” Chandler told the crowd. “Charlie Kirk believed that young Americans were the future, were not just the future of our country, but that we had a responsibility to the present. And I believe the exact same thing, and that’s why I’m here tonight. I believe that the future of America is worth fighting for.”
Chandler told attendees that Kirk’s influence on his generation extended beyond politics as usual. “Charlie Kirk inspired a generation of young people to realize that their voices matter, their values matter, and that politics is not just about their parents or grandparents, something that their parents or grandparents care about or something that they keep up with,” he said. “He showed us that we don’t have to wait until we are older, until we can make a difference, but that we can make a difference right now.”
Who’s Behind the Initiative
Project Future Generation was created by Brilyn Hollyhand, a conservative commentator who chairs the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council and is currently a student at Auburn University. Hollyhand, who has been active in conservative commentary since the fourth grade, has argued publicly that his generation needs to take the lead on economic issues it is now confronting directly.
“Gen-Z is paying for gas for the first time. They’re buying groceries for the first time. They’re paying rent for the first time. They’re about to start families,” Hollyhand wrote on X. “Gen-Z must be the generation that pushes back against the Left & restores the American Dream before it’s too late.”
At the Alabama rally, Chandler echoed that call to the older generations in the room, urging them to make room for younger leadership. “The adults here tonight, continue to encourage this next generation,” he said. “Give them opportunities to lead. Give them opportunities to carry this responsibility forward, and continue to remind them of why this country is so special and why they are so blessed to live here.”
Part of a Broader Pattern
The Alabama effort is one example of a wider push by conservative groups to court Gen Z voters directly rather than through older intermediaries. Other young conservative figures have been building national profiles doing similar work: Cameron Arcand, now a senior Washington correspondent for Townhall, recently appeared as a panelist on the U.K.’s GB News, where he sparred with a British commentator over regulation and tax policy, and social media influencer Xavier Rousseau has built a following through appearances on outlets including PragerU.
Organizers behind Project Future Generation say the goal is to give young Republicans structured, in-person avenues into party work rather than leaving youth engagement to social media alone.
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