Young political activist: Henderson, Nev.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

NAME — Mallory St. Claire
AGE — 17

YOUNG POLITICAL ACTIVIST: HENDERSON, NEV.

By Mallory St. Claire, 17

Shaina Solomon is a political activist in Nevada

Shaina Solomon, 18, from Henderson, Nevada

Upon graduating from Coronado High School, Shaina Soloman will have more notches on her political belt than many adults. A highly motivated Democrat, Shaina has started a Young Democrats chapter, served as a caucus delegate, volunteered for numerous campaigns and is completing a paid internship with the state Democratic Party.

Shaina believes in the ideals of the Democratic Party. Her Young Democrats club had T-shirts made saying, “We're Democrats. We have heart.” Despite the excitement of the national presidential contest, Shaina says prefers statewide elections, saying she's more of a “behind-the-scenes” person.

The experience she's gained from her political activism is sure to aid her in many ways. She already has reaped one benefit: In the fall she’ll be attending the University of Nevada at Las Vegas on a scholarship.

What have you done with the Young Democrats?

"[We started it] the second half of my ninth-grade year. I’ve been president ever since. I’m actually getting ready to give my reign over in our elections. I’m happy and sad. I’m moving forward, but it’s hard to believe ’cause it’s been four years with everybody.

Tell us more about your participation as a caucus delegate.

There is the precinct caucus, the county convention and the state convention, and then all this goes to deciding the delegates for a national convention. It’s really exciting.

At my caucus, what you do is you go into a room with a bunch of your neighbors, and my room had about 150 people. We got 11 delegates. So I was picked as one of the 11 and moved on to county convention as a delegate, where I was again selected as a delegate, and so I’m going on to the state convention, which is in Reno in May, and so that will be cool.

Who do you think the Democratic presidential candidate will be?

Well, I’ve done a lot of switching around personally because I have been a hard-core Bill Richardson supporter, and so when he dropped out it didn’t really matter to me which one.

The other day, we were having a meeting for assembly district leaders, and one of my bosses was like, “I’m just gonna start out saying I don’t want to start out like people usually do, saying, ‘Who’s for Obama? Who’s for Hillary?’ I’m just gonna start out saying, ‘Who’s for McCain?’ and wait for nobody to raise their hand.”

So that’s what I’m all about. I want to be able to throw my support behind a Democratic candidate. I’m hoping that whoever gets the nomination, that they at least utilize Bill Richardson.

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