How Future Caucus Gets Republicans and Democrats to Work Together - We've Got To Talk | Lyssna här

We walked away from our conversation with Layla Zaidane feeling something we don’t always feel after talking about politics: hope. Layla is the President and CEO of Future Caucus, and her whole approach is built around a simple idea that changes everything. If young lawmakers across party lines can know each other as people first, the work changes. The temperature drops, the incentives shift, and bipartisan cooperation stops feeling like a miracle and starts feeling like a skill.

Layla also shared the personal story behind why she does this work, from her family’s journey from Morocco to growing up in the shadow of 9/11 and the identity questions that followed. Listening to her, it’s easy to understand how someone ends up committed to diplomacy, civic leadership, and bridging divides. She’s not chasing a shiny version of politics. She’s trying to build a more human one, and that matters in a time when political polarisation is treated like entertainment.

We talked about Future Summit, which is basically a mid-year reset for state legislators who are tired, stretched thin, and trying to keep going. There are real policy wins and serious conversations, but there’s also joy and connection because trust doesn’t grow in a vacuum. If you can’t laugh together, you’re not going to legislate together, and Future Caucus seems to understand that relationships are not a side quest. They are the work.

We also got into the hard realities facing young people in politics, like the cost of running for office, low pay, burnout, threats, and rising political violence. Layla was blunt about what it will take to keep good people in public service: structural support, better compensation, stronger staffing, and systems that make the job sustainable. If you’ve been searching for how to reduce political division, how to rebuild trust in democracy, or how to have civil political conversations across party lines, this one is a hopeful reminder that better models exist, and they’re already being built.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:21 Meet Layla Zaidane

01:13 Roots and 9/11

03:28 From Recession to Politics

07:14 Founding Future Caucus

09:47 How the Caucuses Work

16:20 Generations and Leadership

26:49 Why Young People Run

30:32 Inside Future Summit

35:46 Money Fundraising Hurdles

36:53 Retention Beyond One Term