Famous civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s only grandchild, voted for the first time and said she wanted to lead like her grandparents did.
Yolanda Renee King took a break from her social justice studies at Columbia University in New York City to return to her hometown of Atlanta to vote in the 2026 midterm elections with her parents, Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King. This event was very important for Yolanda, who turned 18 in May. “This is a full circle moment,” he told ABC. “I can finally go for real.
“For a long time, I always told people the importance of voting, but I was never able to participate firsthand as a voter,” he said. “But now I think this is so special that I have a say.”
Yolanda King, who penned the children’s book “We Dream of a World: Carrying the Light of My Grandparents” in 2024, has been especially busy this year; He was calling for action for young people eligible to vote in the media, on Instagram and even in August at the Lincoln Memorial for the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington, where he spoke at a “Defend the Vote” rally.
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, close to 50 million young people ages 18 to 29 are eligible to vote, including more than 8 million new voters since the 2024 election. Although data is still being collected, at the time of this article’s publication, 66% of this group of voters voted for the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, compared with 31% for the Republican candidate. And 11% of all votes in the 2026 midterm elections were cast by young voters.
In an op-ed published by Teen Vogue on Monday, King talked about the unique challenges she sees facing her generation, including inflation, immigration enforcement, climate change, the rising cost of education with diminishing hopes of homeownership, restrictive voting policies and more. “As the war in Iran continues with no resolution in sight, the cost of living is reaching a breaking point,” he wrote. “And the rise of artificial intelligence is bringing a kind of uncertainty to jobs and the environment that no one has known before.
“This takes nothing away from those who came before us,” he continued. “My grandparents’ generation faced discrimination, violence, and prison cells, and the hardships they experienced were staggering. But our time is ours, and we feel it as we live through it.”
King said he felt the weight of those challenges when he spoke in August at the same venue where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. “This wasn’t just about using my voice; it was about my first vote,” she wrote. “And it felt like my grandparents were next to me, whispering, ‘It’s your turn.’
“I want to lead the way they do. But I know I’m still learning.”
King’s mother posted the CNN report about her daughter’s first vote on Instagram, writing alongside the clip that election day was a personal day for the family. “The little girl whose hand we hold is stepping into a responsibility that her grandmother, grandfather, and so many others sacrificed so much to secure. … There is something deeply moving about watching your child take her place in a story that began long before her.”
King’s father also commented on the post, sharing his own father’s words: “My father said, ‘A people without votes is a people without power.'” When [Yolanda] He was little, so we took him to the polls with us and he would wear our ‘I voted’ stickers and act like he had voted too. This morning on CNN, she shared why she’s finally ready to use her voice, especially now that the Voting Rights Act has been gutted. “There is nothing more powerful than our vote.”