Democratic and Republican party clubs at Ithaca College and Cornell University have been collaborating on voter engagement initiatives, as well as holding election-related events. They also endorsed local, state and national candidates — a more complicated process for some.
Both IC Republicans and Cornell Republicans endorsed President Donald Trump this year, but in 2016, neither group did so.
“We believe that he’s the best man for the job,” IC Republicans President Micahel Deviney said.
In 2016, IC Republicans did not endorse Trump because club members believed he did not embody conservative values, according to reporting from The Ithacan.
Deviney said he thinks this decision was the result of the club being under more centrist leadership. He said that in the last presidential election, conservatives did not view Trump as a candidate who would fulfill his promises. Deviney said that he believes Trump has.
“I thought that not endorsing Trump in 2016 was a bad move … because they’re the Republican club, and … they’re supposed to represent Republican values,” Deviney said.
In 2016, Cornell Republicans endorsed Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, a move that got the organization excommunicated from the New York Federation of College Republicans. Cornell Republicans appealed this decision and was reinstated 16 days later.
Cornell Republicans President Weston Barker said that Johnson’s endorsement was highly contentious among the club members.
“That decision nearly tore the club apart in terms of the blowback and the aftermath because there was a lot of anti-executive board sentiment,” Barker said.
Barker said that this year, he moderated a general body vote on whether or not to do endorsements at all. Then, the whole group voted on whether to endorse Trump, as well as a number of other candidates.
“We kind of realized with this disparity between some members who are … Republicans who don’t necessarily see Trump as the end-all-be-all in terms of the Republican party [and] other people who see the Republican Party as the party of Trump, … we just needed to … litigate it in full,” Barker said.
He said that the discussion was heated and that the vote was close, but ultimately Cornell Republicans did endorse Trump.
Cornell Democrats endorsed Joe Biden for president, as well as some other candidates in New York running for state and national positions, club president Vale Lewis said.
Lewis said she thinks endorsements for local candidates have more direct impact because many college-age voters might not know anything about their positions.
“For the presidential election, I think it’s more symbolic,” she said. “I don’t think our endorsement is necessarily going to change any opinions. … But I still think it’s important for us to take a stand and, you know, demonstrate to the community why we support this candidate.”
IC Democrats has not released any official statements endorsing candidates, but it fully supports Biden, club president Lucy Calderon said.
Calderon said the club was restarted in Spring 2020 after disbanding following the 2016 election. She said the executive board held one meeting before classes went online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I knew that if there was any time to have this organization, it had to be right now,” Calderon said. “We couldn’t afford to not have it during a critical election semester.”
Calderon said IC Democrats collaborated with IC Republicans, the Student Governance Council and the Center for Civic Engagement on IC Votes, a nonpartisan voter initiative. Similarly, Cornell Democrats and Cornell Republicans collaborated with the Cornell Political Union and Cornell Votes on a voter registration drive.
Calderon said she thinks college-age students today better understand the importance of voting.
“I think that the coronavirus has definitely given people time to sit and think about what they’re passionate about and what needs to be done,” she said
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