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About Ian
Ian Magruder was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. He became interested in politics at a very young age, participating in the large San Francisco protests of the Iraq war during the spring of 2003. Inspired by the grassroots energy surrounding Howard Dean, Ian became active in his first political campaign and later traveled out of state to canvass for John Kerry during the general election.
Although disappointed by the 2004 election results, Ian continued his involvement in activism and politics during high school with the Youth Coalition of Santa Cruz and served as Student Representative on the Santa Cruz City School Board. During the 2006 California Gubernatorial election, he volunteered for the Steve Westly campaign and attended the California Democratic Convention in Sacramento.
Since Ian attended an independent studies program K-12, he spent the last two years of high school as a full-time student at Cabrillo College, where he went on to become President of the Cabrillo College Democrats and Vice President of the Cabrillo College Student Senate. Through these experiences he developed an understanding of student organizing. At Cabrillo College he coordinated a rally of 250 students in favor Proposition 92.
During the 2008 election cycle, Ian interned for the John Edwards campaign in New Hampshire, and later went on to volunteer for Barack Obama in Nevada, California, and Pennsylvania. In the fall, Ian became a student at UC Berkeley and served as State Field Coordinator for California Students for Barack Obama (CA SFBO). When Ian took the position with SFBO he made chapter building a top priority and helped expand the organization to 45 chapters statewide by election day. During his time on the state team, CA SFBO chapters registered 37,000 voters and sent hundreds of students to volunteer in Nevada. He was also an active member of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, volunteering against Propositions 4&8.
Ian is now a 2009 Fellow with Young People For, and running for President of the California College Democrats. For more information on his ideas for the organization, please visit the Platform section.
Besides politics Ian enjoys filmmaking, traveling, writing, reading blogs, cooking (or attempting to cook), and hiking.