The state flag provided the first test for the fledgling Future Caucus of the Mississippi Legislature.

Jeramey Anderson, D-Moss Point, and Toby Barker, R-Hattiesburg, started the coalition of lawmakers under the age of 40 with the help of the Millennial Action Project, a national organization that is trying to end partisanship and gridlock in legislatures across the country.

Anderson and Barker seemed to have one thing in common when they met. Both were the youngest member of the House when they were first elected, Barker at age 25 in 2007 and Anderson at 21 in 2013.

Their youth enabled them to bridge the partisan divide, even though they were often on opposite sides of an issue. They had been talking for at least two years about forming a caucus of the youngest members of the Legislature to create a dialogue between the majority Republicans and Democrats.

Then the spark for the Future Caucus came from social media.

“(The millennial project) reached out through Twitter,” said Anderson. Within in weeks, the caucus was organized and had its first informal meeting.