Sooner or later, Generation X was bound to discover politics.

        That generation of Americans in their late 20s and early 30s may still not vote in the numbers of their parents and grandparents, but it was inevitable that they would start popping up in public offices, from Congress to the statehouse to City Hall.

Cincinnati City Council members (from left) Alicia Reece, John Cranley and Pat DeWine are among a growing number of politicians in their 20s and 30s who are making their mark. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

        Nowhere in Tristate politics is the generational shift in officeholders more evident than on Cincinnati City Council, where three of nine council seats are now held by Generation X politicians — Republican Pat DeWine (32), Democrat Alicia Reece (29) and Democrat John Cranley (26).

        “It is the biggest generational change since the early '70s,” said Xavier University political scientist Gene Beaupre. “A huge shift.”

        The last generational change in Cincinnati politics took place 25 to 30 years ago, with the emergence of a crop of baby-boom politicians who dominated city politics for decades — people like Jerry Springer, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Arn Bortz, David Mann, Guy Guckenberger — all of whom have moved up the political ladder or out of politics and on to other things.

        The latest change in political leadership may be sped along this year by Cincinnati's term-limits law and the change to a direct mayoral election system, which will mean there will be three open seats in this year's council election.

        Leaders of all three political parties — Republican, Democrat and the Charter Committee — say it is likely that more candidates in their 20s and and 30s will be on their slates of council candidates this year — candidates like Democrat David Pepper, 29, and Republican Chris Monzel, 33.

        The youth movement is by no means limited to Cincinnati City Hall.

Adam Koenig was 27 when he was elected as a Kenton County commissioner in 1998 and is the youngest elected county official in Kentucky. | ZOOM |

        Adam Koenig was 27 when elected a Kenton County commissioner in 1998 and is the youngest elected county official in Kentucky. Covington has two council members in their 20s. In November, voters in the 85th Ohio House District (Shelby and Champaign counties) sent an 18-year-old Democrat, Derrick Seaver, to the state legislature.

        The new generation of politicians is not at all a monolithic group, either in political beliefs or background.

        The freshman class at Cincinnati City Hall includes:

        • Mr. Cranley, who was fresh out of Harvard Law School when he was recruited a year ago to run against incumbent Republican Steve Chabot in the 1st Congressional District.

        Older, more established politicians took a pass on challenging Mr. Chabot; the assumption was that the young, first-time candidate would be a lamb led to slaughter. But he ended up running a respectable campaign, taking 44 percent of the vote. When Democrat Todd Portune was elected Hamilton County commissioner, Mr. Cranley was appointed to his council seat.

        • Ms. Reece, a businesswoman, radio producer and former beauty queen at Grambling University, had a name well known in Cincinnati's African-American community when she made her first run for council In 1999.

        Her father, Steve Reece, ran unsuccessfully for council in 1975. He helped run the Rev. Jesse Jackson's bids for the presidential nomination in the 1980s and brought up his daughter in an atmosphere charged with politics.

        • Mr. DeWine had an even more well-known name. He was raised in a large family in Greene County headed by Mike DeWine and worked in his father's campaigns since early childhood, as the elder Mr. DeWine ran for county prosecutor, state senate, Congress, lieutenant governor, and, finally, U.S. senator.

        All three of the young council members say they think they have improved a council that had a long-standing reputation as a rancorous, slow-moving legislative body.

        “We're all three pretty impatient with the way things move at City Hall,” Mr. DeWine said. “And we won't put up with some of the gamesmanship and pettiness you've seen around City Hall.”

        Ms. Reece and Mr. DeWine have managed to reach across party lines to work together on a number of issues — they took the lead on persuading council to give tax credits to small-business owners on the self-employment tax and on streamlining the permit process of redevelopment in Over-the-Rhine.

        The creation of a “New Economy Project Team,” a group of mostly young business people, was pushed by Ms. Reece and Mr. DeWine, with the goal of helping entrepreneurs who want to start high-tech and dot-com firms in Cincinnati.

        “This is the kind of business development that is going to occur to us that might not occur to an older generation,” Ms. Reece said.

        Mr. Cranley said the presence of young, single, well-educated people on City Council could end up reaping dividends in terms of development and attracting young people back to the city.

        “I can't imagine that somebody just out of Harvard Law School is going to live in Anderson Township,” Mr. Cranley said. “That person is going to want to live in the city. But we have to give them what they want.”

        That, Mr. Cranley said, means a city with vibrant night life that includes shops, restaurants and music clubs. Generation X politicians, Mr. Cranley said, are going to focus on that kind of development.

        “We know what draws young people to a city,” Mr. Cranley said.

        Mr. Koenig, who was elected Kenton County commissioner in 1998, also comes from a political background — his mother was on Villa Hills council; his uncle was the mayor of Fort Mitchell.

        In his job, Mr. Koenig sees little difference between himself and older colleagues in how they approach county government — they are all responsible for keeping up the roads, providing services, controlling the county's purse strings.

        “I think if there is any difference, it is that I went into this a little less jaded, a little more idealistic than people who'd been around politics awhile,” Mr. Koenig said.

        “But you try to approach the job not with the attitude that you have all the answers,” Mr. Koenig said. “There's always a lot to learn — from how to schmooze at a party to understanding the sewer system.”

        Politicians like Mr. Koenig and the young Cincinnati council members will not be political oddities for long.

        Even younger politicians are sprouting up, many of them in the traditional training ground of university student government.

        Dan Phenicie, a 21-year-old political science and prelaw major from Bucyrus, Ohio, is the student body president at the University of Cincinnati this year after running last spring on a campaign slogan of “Make This Your University.”

        “I could see myself making a career out of politics,” Mr. Phenicie said. “This is a way you can make a difference with your life.”

        Laurie Hodo, one of the organizers of the Politix Group, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that tries to encourage young people to get involved in politics, said the group's Web site has thousands of hits from college-age people around the country who want to either run for office or help elect others.

        The Politix Group, made up of present and former congressional staffers who volunteer their time, gives young people practical advice on how to make contacts with local political leaders and how to organize campaigns.

        “Young people are starting to realize that the political process is a way to change society,” Ms. Hodo said. “And the more of them that do, the better.”

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