After nine years of establishing a national movement of more than 300,000 young, freedom-fighting activists, Young Americans for Liberty has launched its newest campaign, Operation Win at the Door, with the primary objective of mobilizing thousands of college students to elect principled, pro-liberty candidates to state government through grassroots campaigning. The announcement comes after YAL’s sister organization received status as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, making it legal for activists to engage in unlimited lobbying and promotion of liberty candidates.

After years of being classified as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, incapable of political lobbying, YAL is unshackling itself from the strict rules and regulations of the Internal Revenue Service that previously outlawed campaigning and educating voters directly. The freedom-fighting army has, aptly received more freedom, making the organization a political force to be reckoned with in 2018 and beyond.

Operation Win at the Door gives the ideals of liberty the publicity it deserves and narrows its focus to electing candidates specifically to state legislatures. YAL is looking to endorse candidates who promise (among other things) to fight for free speech, restore privacy via the Fourth Amendment, cut high tax rates, and defend the Constitution.

This will be done through a four-step plan that mobilizes college students to take action in state legislative districts throughout the country. Their first objective is to seek out and identify state representative candidates who are running on liberty-based principles by interviewing them using their official candidate survey. The survey, which includes 28 questions regarding taxes, spending, civil liberties, regulation reform, and federal issues, will help concentrate their efforts on candidates who specifically champion the core principles of liberty: free people, free markets, and limited government.

After identifying the most prominent and viable candidates, YAL plans to hire a team of 10 activists to knock on 35,000 doors in each of the pro-liberty candidates’ districts. After months of dedicated activism and grassroots campaigning, YAL believes their strategy will #MakeLibertyWin by building a roster of conservative and libertarian state officials.

Cliff Maloney Jr., president of Young Americans for Liberty, believes 2018 will be a paramount year for his organization. He is excited to be focusing efforts on electing state representatives across the country because he believes doing so will create a lasting impact on the local, state, and federal governments in the near future.

“The reason for that is because these folks, in five to 10 years, will become the Congressman Justin Amashes, the Congressman Thomas Massies, and the Sen. Rand Pauls,” Maloney said in Operation Win at the Door’s announcement video.

As an organization, YAL has grown exponentially since its founding in 2008, with members in more than 900 chapters on colleges and universities across the United States. In 2017, YAL executed 3,269 campus recruitment events — more than 2015 and 2016 totals combined — and aims to execute over 3,500 recruitment events in 2018. As the largest, most active, and fastest-growing pro-liberty organization on America’s campuses, YAL has pressure to maintain its rank and file and bring more college students into the fold.

YAL's leadership plan continues to educate students through robust campus activism as their activists hit the ground running with Operation Win at the Door this year. So far, they have announced six spring summits and a four-day 10th annual national convention in 2018, which will serve as an in-depth leadership and activist training seminar for students interested in spreading the ideals of liberty on their campus and communities. Regional summits are being held in Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and St. Louis with the national convention being held in Reston, Va. The organization trained 2,151 activists in 2017 and intends to exceed that number in 2018.

Out of the 99 state legislative chambers in America, 87 have elections this November. Some 6,066 seats — over 80 percent of the total state legislative seats in the United States — are up for grabs. This motivates the activists for Young Americans for Liberty, and their efforts will undoubtedly lead the fight to fill these seats with liberty-loving, freedom-fighting warriors come this fall.



Aaron Carpenter (@aaronjcarpenter) is a senior at Ohio State University majoring in mechanical engineering. One of Aaron’s claims to fame is that Donald Trump retweeted one of Aaron’s tweets in March 2015.