They took gap years to stay at home and run for office. They list as their political heroes progressive leaders such as Jacinda Ardern and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And they plan to juggle their new roles as elected officials with university exams and shifts at McDonald’s. The record number of young New Zealanders, some still in their teens, who surged to victory in the country’s local government elections on Saturday – in what was dubbed a “youthquake” by commentators – were not lured by dreams of high-profile posts in national politics. Instead, they ran for roles on New Zealand’s city and district councils or community boards – where elected officials have always tended to be older, white and male, and where elections have been treated with apathy by voters of all ages. “It’s about representing our planet and representing a whole group of people who aren’t currently strongly being heard around the council table,” says Sophie Handford, 18, who was the youngest to be elected on Saturday, winning a seat on the lower North Island’s Kāpiti coast district council. “Obviously our planet doesn’t have a physical voice,” she says. “I see the extreme importance of raising issues related to the planet…