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Leo Solga started his campaign for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to bring a youthful voice to Harrisburg. Now he’s bringing in other young people to gain hands-on political experience with a campaign internship.
The 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate is running for the open seat in the 148th district of Pennsylvania, following the retirement of U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Daley, who had held the position since 2012. Along with Solga, Andrea Deutsch, Megan Griffin-Shelley and Jason Landau Goodman will be on the May 19 Democratic primary ballot.
Solga said he wants to improve youth civic engagement and is running on a platform that includes regional rail funding, a guarantee for reproductive freedoms and supporting public schools.
“We have a secondary goal of the campaign, which is to get young people involved in politics,” Solga said. “To show young people that they can run for office.”
Solga started his campaign internship to give young people the tools and experience they need for a potential future run for office, along with traditional campaign volunteer tasks, such as voter outreach and door knocking. Interns work five to seven hours a week and can receive academic credit for their work.
While there are resources to help younger candidates to prepare for a campaign, according to Solga, there are some “key components” missing. He said that hands-on experience in a state-level campaign can be “instrumental” training for future races.
“We don’t want to just have interns only understand part of the campaign,” Solga said. “Ideally we want to diffuse knowledge.”
Joining a political campaign
Leah Kallen had no political experience before joining the Solga team as an intern in January.
She saw the announcement for the opportunity on Linkedin and recognized Solga’s name — the two had gone to middle school together, going on to graduate separately from Lower Merion and Harriton High School.
The 21-year-old Amherst College student said it was a “no brainer” to reach out and ask if she can support the team. Even though she had never been a part of anything like a campaign before, Kallen thought “now more than ever” was the time to get involved.
“I feel really passionate about it and I want to just learn more about what it looks like to be helping out with something like this,” Kallen said.
As an intern, she drafts emails, verifies signatures on various petitions and helps cull through event photos. Even though these kinds of small tasks can seem insignificant, Kallen said they can add up to be noteworthy.
“I feel like every win, every small step towards bringing a win home for Pa. feels so rewarding for me,” Kallen said.