Ed-tech investor Jason Palmer has called off his improbable Democratic presidential challenge to Joe Biden and is launching a national voter initiative with the goal of registering one million young people in battleground states.

Palmer co-founded the new organization, Together!, with investor Deborah Perry Piscione and political commentator  Kwame Jackson after ending his longshot campaign last month.

He was motivated to form the new organization by his desire to continue advocating for issues he campaigned on during the race, including youth empowerment and conscious capitalism.

Together! includes two arms: a public benefit corporation focused on youth voter registration and political engagement; and a political action committee that will fund at least 20 young candidates “across the political spectrum,” according to its announcement.

Specifically, the organization’s goal is to register at least one million young people in 15 battleground states this fall, and boost young voters’ participation rates from about 55 percent in 2020 to more than 70 percent by 2032.

Palmer said he plans to work with the network of contacts he built while campaigning and in education investing to scale existing get-out-the-vote efforts and support new ones, especially in places like college campuses.

“The goal is to grow it over time into sort of a LinkedIn for causes and purpose-driven people, both people running for office and social entrepreneurs,” Palmer said.

Normally when the campaign a political action committee is associated with ends, the PAC wraps up as well. Palmer said Together! was born out of the campaign as a way to continue the PAC’s work and conversations he started during the campaign.

As a social network focused activism for change, he sees Together! as ultimately being able to “last beyond a single election, and into future elections,” and potentially grow into a valuable company, he said.

Palmer took a leave of absence from New Markets Venture Partners to launch his campaign, but he remains a general partner at the firm. He continues to invest in the space and says he makes about two investments a year.

The bulk of the funding for Palmer’s primary bid came from his own coffers, with federal election records showing he loaned his campaign a total of about $687,000. He also reported raising almost $44,000 from individual contributors.

He says his electoral high mark in the four-month effort was his victory against Biden in American Samoa, he said. Palmer won 51 out of the 91 ballots cast in the territory’s Democratic caucus, compared to Biden’s 40.

Palmer and his team worked to gain voters in the American territory through virtual town halls, coordinated outreach efforts to community organizations. That effort was their “number one priority for three weeks,” he said.

“They have some very real local issues,” said Palmer of American Samoans, and regardless of how his campaign ended, “I’m going to advocate for their issues forever. I’m connected to them forever.”

(American Samoans have a way of going against the political currents. Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also was not successful as a Democratic party candidate for president in 2020, but he won the territory.)

Palmer’s biggest disappointment in the race, he said, was when the campaign earned only .1 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. That poor showing caused him to kick into gear and hire a new campaign manager to refocus on the Nevada primary, where he received .4 percent of the vote, and then Colorado, where he gained .7 percent. He hit .9 percent in the Arizona Democratic primary before winning American Samoa.

Palmer said his main focus now is Together! and the November election, and another election campaign is not on his mind.

“I’ve promised myself that for the next two years, I’m not going to think about running for another election or anything like that,” said Palmer, who is seeking to help Biden win the presidential race this fall. “I want two years of just building before I even think about that again … for now it’s all about November.”

Image by Getty

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See also:

• Education Investor Launches Campaign — for President of the United States
• Venture Capital Firm New Markets Venture Partners Raises $160M Fund
• Election Results Bring Likelihood of Divided Power, Mixed Results for Education Companies
• Inflation Is Squeezing School District Budgets — and Companies’ Ambitions