She's been on the front lines of the Democratic Party's struggles with representation

Still a few years shy of turning 40, Sarah Audelo says she has aged out of her job.

She's spent the last few years in charge of one of the country's largest youth organizing networks, and now Audelo is stepping down to make room for new, younger leadership.

"It's like totally bittersweet to step away, but absolutely the right time," Audelo said of her departure, which had been in the works for a while. "I'm 37. This is a youth organization. It is time to make a way for folks who are actually on TikTok take the helm of the Alliance."

That idea, that someone still under the age of 40 is too old to lead a political group, would be unthinkable in other parts of Washington where the ranks of leadership can often be stagnant.

But like many other younger organizers, Audelo sees her departure as a natural evolution to keep groups that are in the Alliance — a progressive network of local grassroots organizations focused on mobilizing young people — relevant.