Politico had an interesting article up this morning, “Tim Walz and the Birth of the ‘State College Voter’”, about how most Americans with college degrees don’t get them from the big elite universities like those of the Ivy League, but rather from the regional small public universities, like, say, I don’t know, Millersville University (BS ‘96) or smaller, non-selective private colleges, like Florida Tech (MS ‘05). Those graduates tend to go on to reasonably lucrative, if not exactly prestigious, careers, often in the same region of the country they grew up in, contributing to the local economy (since they’re more likely to stay close, rather than pop into the state for a few years, graduate, then leave again). Those people make up a plurality (around 45%) of degree-holders in this country, but get overshadowed by the so-called elites from places like Harvard and Yale.

It’s a very large demographic, but one they don’t typically select for in polling.

It’s also mostly where I fit into things (except for the fact that I didn’t stay in the area where I grew up, for a variety of reasons), as well as where the current Democratic Presidential/Vice Presidential ticket fit, as opposed to the all-Ivy Republicans. Also, I took and passed my own admissions exams. 😉

VP Harris went to Howard (the HBCU) and UC Hastings, and Governor Walz attended Chadron State in Nebraska and Minnesota State Mankato, came from lower-middle class backgrounds and pursued careers in public service. Governor Walz and I even have basically the same degree.

That background, as well as both Walz and Harris falling into the same GenX generational cohort, had a lot of similar experiences, and we came to a lot of the same conclusions about where we stand politically. While there’s some debate about GenX’s overall political leanings (much ado was made about another Politico article back in May about us being “safely Republican”), I, and most people in my cohort that I spend time with (admittedly self-selected) came out of our University experiences at small public colleges with a greater experience of the wider world than the small, homogeneous (and often more than a little bit racist and homophobic) communities we came of age in, and developed a more progressive worldview as a result of our experiences with people who were different than us and being exposed to things like history, sociology, and Keynesian economics that just made sense. Not that I’ve not met some conservative Xers, but in my experience and anecdata at least, they might be loud, but there aren’t as many as some of these articles claim, and I say this as someone living in a pretty conservative enclave with ties to the birth of the Tea Party movement, even if it falls within a solidly blue Commonwealth (Praise Be to the DC suburbs and cities 20 miles to the north and south).

Our unique latchkey childhood experiences also made us pretty damned snarky and sarcastic, and that’s definitely coming out in the Harris-Walz campaign messaging, which warms my snarky GenX heart.

Representation matters, and for the first time in a while, I feel represented.

Your Mom has concepts of a plan!