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Millennial Mayor: 22 year-old CCP Student Tejan Austin Plans on Running for Mayor in 2019


  Most college students have a busy enough schedule, balancing a full course load and part-time jobs. But Tejan Austin added a little more to his plate: running a full mayoral campaign. Austin, 22, will be running for Mayor of Philadelphia in the 2019 election, when he will be 25 years old.

   Austin’s announcement comes at a turbulent time in local and national politics. District Attorney Seth Williams announced last week that he will not be running for re-election, sparking a heated race. We may be seeing more political outsiders like Austin in our local elections, just as we’ve seen on the national stage.

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Tejan Austin/Patrick Clark

   “I’ve always had an interest in helping people, giving back to the community,” Austin told Spirit News.

   Austin, who is pursuing a degree in political science, knew he wanted to work in public service from a young age, but said the decision to run for mayor came somewhat suddenly. One day at home, when he was unhappy with his current job, he decided to research public office positions and decided he wanted to go big.

  “There’s no other way that you can really give back and see the growth and the change unless you get into the field of politics,” Austin said.

  Since the next mayoral election is not until 2019, Austin said he will continue working and pursuing his degree at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) Spring Garden Campus. As part of a dual admission transfer program, Austin will transfer to Chestnut Hill in January 2018.

   When not at school, Austin said he works at least 40 hours a week as a security dispatcher for the Vanguard Group. Austin does his homework during the downtime of his overnight shifts and squeezes in a few hours of sleep in the morning.

   “I think that shows people that I’m able to be responsible,” Austin said of him being able to balance this course load with a job and a campaign. School and work, he said, is something he has to do, but the campaign is something he wants to do.

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Community College of Philadelphia./Patrick Clark

   Despite his busy schedule, Austin said he was able to pull a 4.0 GPA semester at CCP. He said will continue to work as hard as he can until he receives his diploma in 2019.

   “I’ll graduate in December 2019, but I won’t walk until June 2019,” Austin said. “Hopefully by that time, I’ll be mayor of the city.”

   Austin has big plans for Philadelphia. While he said he has a lot of respect for Mayor Jim Kenney, Austin believes Kenney’s campaign only reached out to certain demographics in the city. Austin plans to run on a platform highlighting inclusivity above all else.

   “With my background and my knowledge, I can reach out to all of the city,” Austin said. “I can reach out to everybody and I can stand for everybody, from the youth to the millennials and our senior citizens. I can be the mayor that represents everyone at the same time.”

   Austin also said he believes Kenney does not give the proper attention to some problems that have been ailing the city for decades. One area where Austin said Kenney does not give proper attention is education.

   “Philadelphia has one of the worst education systems,” Austin said. “They pour money into it, when the money isn’t the problem, it’s the curriculum.”

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Tejan Austin/Patrick Clark

   Austin said he wants to encourage more students to finish high school and go to college by creating a new scholarship. The proposed scholarship will be given to students who maintain a 2.8 GPA and a 90% attendance rate for their four years of high school. The higher their GPA, the more money they will receive. Austin would also want to set up ways to offer internship programs, so students can have tangible job experience when they graduate.

   Austin said he plans on getting the money by raising the cigarette tax and by rearranging the way the way funding goes toward schools. He believes that teachers are getting paid enough and the money needs to be focused on other options.

  “Our students need new textbooks,” Austin said. “Even if I spent the money on that, I would feel much better than throwing out a few raises every year.”

   Austin said he also wants to make major strides to fix unemployment, poverty and homelessness. He said as mayor he will try to bring many companies back to Philadelphia, which will help solve the poverty issue. For homelessness, he said he wants to build more shelters and encourage a work program for those in the shelter.

   “I would support local businesses that would hire people like that,” Austin said of the possible work program, “Just like I would support local businesses hiring teenagers or people who graduated from high school.”

   Austin said an issue with graduating seniors looking for work is people will not hire them without experience. He likened this struggle to his own experiences, noting that that the best way to gain work experience is to just do it.

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Tejan Austin/Patrick Clark

   “How will people know what I could do if I don’t give them the chance to show them?” Austin said.

   Austin, who spent most of his upbringing in Pittsburgh, came to Philadelphia when he was 19 for school. He has roots in Philadelphia, though, as his father was raised here. His father, who raised six children as a single parent before meeting his current wife, has supported Austin’s political aspirations since the very beginning.

   “My father is just such a hard working person,” Austin said. “He’s such an inspiration to me.”

  As Austin will be running for mayor at age 25, he knows there will be naysayers, but said that he refuses to run a negative or slanderous campaign. Since it will be his first campaign, he said he wants to use this opportunity to learn as much as he can about the campaign process.

  “As for the people, all I can do is show them that I have their best interests at heart, no matter my age,” Austin said. “No matter if I’m 25 or 55, I can still handle this job and take it seriously.”

   Austin pointed to Svante Myrick, the Mayor of Ithaca, who was sworn in when he was only 24. Myrick, who is one of Austin’s political idols, cleared the city’s $3 million deficit and has won re-election with 89 percent of the vote, according to Forbes.

   Another one of Austin’s political idols is someone who was, until recently, the president of the United States: Barack Obama. Austin said Obama was someone who really influenced him to give back to the community. He noted how Obama achieved a lot, but could not do as much as he wanted due to being a Democratic president with a majority Republican congress.

   “The current administration, I’m not a fan of it. I am willing to give it a chance,” Austin said. However, Austin added he thinks there will be too much money spent on the Mexican border wall, adding that he doesn’t think we even need one. He also doesnt agree with the current administration’s approach toward women’s rights. Austin said that while he is against abortion, he said the issue “should strictly be a woman’s choice.”

  Austin said if the election doesn’t work out, he would consider running for other public office positions, such as a Pennsylvania state representative or Philadelphia City Council. However, Austin said the main reason that he is starting so early is so he can build his name recognition and in turn, his ability to succeed in the future. When the next mayoral election comes, Austin said he will campaign again.

  “I feel like, for the people of Philadelphia, the government has let them down for so long,” Austin said. “I want to be the person who restores that faith.”

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