Young people across the country are fighting back against the incredible challenges they face, from housing and wages to health care and political representation. Inspired by fellow members of Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), high schooler Reese Armstrong has stepped up to represent the workers, tenants, and students of Texas’s Travis County. At just eighteen, Armstrong is one of the youngest candidates in the country running for office, seeking a seat on the Travis County Commissioners Court in the Second Precinct — a body that shapes everything from public health and county courts to infrastructure and housing policy in one of the fastest-growing regions in the state.

Growing up in Austin, Armstrong cut their teeth in student organizing, helping build networks across high schools and taking on fights over school governance and neighborhood displacement. Their campaign is rooted in those experiences and in the reality facing many young people in the Second Precinct, where rapid development, rising rents, and stagnant wages are pushing working-class families out of the communities where they grew up. The race unfolds in a county often described as a progressive outpost within Texas, yet it is also one constrained by state preemption, gerrymandering, and the influence of business and police lobbies.

Armstrong is a member of YDSA but is not endorsed by Austin Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in this race. Their candidacy offers a test case: whether a student-led, openly socialist campaign, without the backing of the city’s largest socialist organization, can build a durable coalition among renters, workers, and young voters. Jacobin recently caught up with Reese to talk with them about their campaign and how they view the challenges ahead.