Dressed in a suit with a bolo tie, cowboy hat, boots and sporting a full mustache, government junior Arshia Papari is hard to miss. He’s become a recognizable figure on campus, known for protesting against deportations, Israel and restrictions on free speech. However, after years of cultivating his voice and working up the ranks of the Democratic Party, Papari grew radically disillusioned by the influence of lobbyists and billionaires.

“I was wearing rose-colored glasses about our political system,” Papari said.

At only 19, Papari became one of the youngest delegates at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. With Kamala Harris already slated to be the democratic nominee, Papari joined hundreds of other “ceasefire” delegates to refute Harris’ nomination. He and 30 other delegates staged a 24-hour sit-in outside the convention demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

“Unfortunately, they sort of kicked us to the curb,” he said. “That’s where I really had that moment of reckoning.”

After the convention, Papari abandoned the Democratic Party for the Green Party and founded the Longhorn Greens. Now, the 21-year-old “socialist cowboy” is throwing his hat in the race to represent District 49 in the Texas House of Representatives. Since July, he’s been campaigning on a platform to freeze rent, end corporate power and protect Texans’ rights.

Inspired by other young, democratic socialist voices like New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, some of Papari’s proposals include free childcare and state-funded grocery stores. He also advocates for major criminal justice reform and regulations on corporations and lobbyists. Noting how Mamdani captured the youth vote with his affordability agenda, Papari believes he can win Texas House District 49, where UT students alone make up a quarter of constituents.

“We’re seeing rents in West Campus continue to rise year on year, every year,” Papari said. “Freezing the rent is just the very first step, and then I want to move into stronger programs like building social housing and expanding subsidized housing.”

Papari emphasized that his campaign is not only for the youth, but by the youth. His eight staffers are all under 26, including a few who are still in high school. His campaign treasurer, Reese Armstrong, is 17 and running for Travis County commissioner.

“We’re going to be the most non-traditional campaign in the state,” Papari said.

Despite his age, Papari touts an extensive resume, including work as a legislative aide to two state representatives. He dove headfirst into politics in high school when he felt that the social studies curriculum omitted important historical events and lacked transparency about America’s history of white Christian nationalism. In the summer of 2022, he testified before the Board of Education and gained his first experience drafting legislation.

Papari later got involved with multiple environmental organizations, including Change the Chamber, and served as the deputy director of international relations for the Climate Cardinals. In his time at UT, Papari chaired the Human Rights, Education and Gun Safety caucuses for the University Democrats.

He also began advocating for Palestine during his freshman year in 2023-2024, when divestment protests swept the nation. Papari recalled watching the first student, Ammer Qaddumi, get arrested at UT on April 24, 2024. The following week, Papari said he was in the crowd when law enforcement deployed flash bangs.

“I saw a guy arrested for absolutely no reason other than expressing his free speech with the rest of his peers,” he said.

At the time, Papari was also working as a legislative aide to Texas House Representative Mihaela Plesa. To his surprise, Plesa authored a bill “expressing support for the strengthening of our partnership with Israel and for the creation of a Texas Trade and Investment Office in Israel.”

“I thought she was a very progressive person, but in the end, our entire office ended up resigning,” Papari said. “I’m running to repeal that [bill] and to end any ties we have with Israel.”

After the fallout on campus, with the legislature and at the Democratic National Convention, Papari felt more emboldened than ever to fight against corruption and suppression. He left the University Democrats and turned to Students for a Democratic Society, where he quickly became vice president. He took up the mantle organizing and leading dozens of protests over the past year.

Still,from the federal government all the way down to UT administration, Papari felt his voice was being ignored. He criticized the incumbent for District 49, Gina Hinojosa, who is now running for governor. Despite representing over 50,000 students, Papari said he was disappointed to see that Hinojosa and other Democrats voted in support of Senate Bill 2972, which restricts free speech at public universities.

“She has a lot of really great qualities as a progressive…but this really struck me to the core,” Papari said. “Our governments have taken the utmost measures to criminalize any sort of dissent and to criminalize students.”

While the 2026 election is a year away, Papari plans to continue growing his campaign and making his presence known at local protests. Mamdani’s victory in New York has been somewhat of a national flashpoint, and he could serve as a litmus test for these progressive policies over the course of the next year once he takes office in January.

Campaigning as a democratic socialist and third party candidate could prove to be difficult in Texas, but in a more liberal district like this one, Papari’s competition is primarily democrats. Former Austin City Council Member Kathie Tovo is among them, though she lost the 2024 mayoral race against incumbent Kirk Watson.

“Honestly, for all the political leaders that we have in Austin that call themselves progressive, I don’t think they’re focusing on even a tenth of the issues we’re discussing,” Papari said. “We’ve got to make a change, and what better time than now?”