A leader of the Young Democrats of Georgia reacts to the party's sweep in Senate runoff races: 'They gave me hope'

Jaylan Scott, the executive vice president of the Young Democrats of Georgia, said that Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock's wins in the Jan. 5 Senate runoff races made him discover what was possible. “When I first got into politics, I remember thinking, 'I want to be the first Black senator [from Georgia],'” Scott told Yahoo News. “And so now I realize, even though I can't be the first, now I know it's at least possible for it to happen.”

Video Transcript

JAYLAN SCOTT: [INAUDIBLE] give me hope, and that's what that means to me. For future generations to come, I know that I can be a Senator one day. I know it's possible because he did it. And I think it's possible because [INAUDIBLE] as a young person, because John Ossoff did it, so it feels great.

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My name is Jaylan Scott, and I am the Executive Vice President of the Young Democrats of Georgia. I always think about that when I listen to Raphael Warnock because it's true, he is a Black man living in the South. Mostly in the same city that I live in right now, which is in Atlanta. He's a southern Baptist preacher, same religion that I am. His victory alone for me meant a lot because I'm a Black man.

I remember just a little over 10 years ago when Barack Obama won his first term. I was eight years old. And from that point on, I realized like, hey, this is possible. When I first got into politics, I was thinking, well, I want to be Georgia's first Black Senator. I want to be Georgia's first Black governor. You dream a lot. Now, I realize that even though I can't be the first, now I know it's at least possible for it to happen. That Raphael Warnock gave that to me.

And John Ossoff-- anybody who pretty much talks to me now knows that John Ossoff, he is one of my favorite politicians in a sense. He's one of my favorites and that's only because of the fact that he is really young.

Now, I think just the work of the Young Democrats of Georgia, they really invest in other young people. We have our dedicated voter, we do. We always have people that's gonna go out and vote. But I think now it's time for us to be able to use that hope that's created and opportunities that were created, to go into communities that we don't often go into and actually talk to them, actually figure out, what can we do for you How can we make your life better?

How can we make you trust what the government is doing? And how can we make you trust that whoever we elect does the work that they're supposed to be doing for you?

They said Abrams had a vision a while ago. She just visioned-- it just isn't new. It's something that she's been thinking about for a long time or something that's actually going into play, and we know it works. And she's done it by mobilizing people who've never been involved in the political process. And the results, you see in a lot of new voters coming into the mix, a lot of people who haven't previously talked about politics or cared about politics getting involved and at least going out to vote for the person that they really believed that was supporting them.

So now, it's really our time to adopt that philosophy and continue it because we know it works. And really, it's our responsibility to make sure that young people continue to be involved and stay involved and make sure that they're mobilized.