SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- During the last legislative session, five young Democrats, all under the age of 35, came together and announced a policy agenda aimed at younger Oregonians like them.

They wanted to help pass laws that affected families, small businesses and education.

They came to be known by the nickname, "The Five Under 35," a change from years past when younger legislators were the exception, hardly the rule.

But as it turns out, the youthful quintet of policy makers may have just been the beginning. Along with a super-sized Democratic majority, the November election has ushered in a new class of young legislators.

The 36-member Democratic caucus will have 10 members 36 years old or younger, doubling their ranks.

"I think it's been at the forefront of everybody's mind," said Jules Kopel-Bailey, House District 42's representative-elect. "I think having that blend of youthful enthusiasm together with some folks who bring more longer-term experience to the job is really going to be an effective combination."

As lawmakers seek to address health care, education and green energy, all with an eye on budget cuts, Kopel-Bailey, not yet 30 himself, expects that younger legislators will play an important role. He imagines they'll be a voice for new families, debt-carrying college students and a generation of younger people who have just begun to awaken politically.

"I think it's important to have a group of legislators who are young," Kopel-Bailey said.

As young people -- including himself -- watch the economy crumble and the cost of education and health care grow, their stake in Oregon's future becomes all the more important, he said. "We're gonna be living in that world down the line. This is something that we're going to have to take care of."

Jefferson Smith, a recently elected 35-year-old representative for District 47, said the added youth should bring a new energy to Salem, a new set of relationships, and maybe some questions about conventional wisdom.

"Hopefully there will be a healthy mix of deference and challenge," he said. "I don't think any of us ran with a sense of feeling like we have all of the answers."

Though Smith allows that there might be a greater commitment to higher education, clean government and a green-centric economy, what, if anything, these younger legislators might bring to the Legislature, in terms of policy, is still anybody's guess.

None of them assumes that these 10 lawmakers will necessarily allow their age to dictate their policy.

The five younger legislators elected this go-around come from disparate backgrounds and legislative districts.

Some represent districts traditionally held by Republicans, others come from places that were safely Democratic. Kopel-Bailey has a background in economics, while Smith has spent much of his time as a youth community organizer through Oregon's Bus Project. Others have spent time in the courtroom.

Sara Gelser, 34, a member of the Five Under 35 from 2007, says the number of younger people is helping to diversify the Legislature, though she's also quick to point out the fact that she's the only woman among the younger policy makers.

Gelser says the growth in their ranks, in large part, is a reflection of the "great focus of organizing younger people" going on throughout the nation and particularly in Oregon.

But much as it was with the original five, "I think it's difficult to generalize about what (age) means" says Ben Cannon, 32, another member of the Five Under 35. "The five of us who were there last session offered perspectives that were just as diverse as any five members of the Legislature might."

Still, Cannon says, youth offered those five a sort of common bond. "We had a certain kind of shared experience," he said. "We connected with each other."

That connection is already strong for the newcomers. Through the Oregon Bus Project and volunteer activities, they are already well acquainted.

They wondered together, Smith said, whether it was crazy to run. They discussed the sorts of roles they could play in state government. They helped each other campaign.

"I think there was a little of bracing ourselves, together, to jump into the cold water," Smith said. "I learned a lot from them."

Both Kopel-Bailey and Smith said they were inspired, in part, by the work that their younger colleagues did in 2007.

"They've been very successful down in the Legislature," Kopel-Bailey said. He figured "if they can go down there and do that, then maybe we've got the ability to do down there and join up as well."