TUSCALOOSA—After the 2018 midterm election on November 6th, the results have been the talk around campus at the University of Alabama.
Many student political groups like the College Republicans, College Democrats, Young Americans for Freedom and Young Americans for Liberty have held meetings over the past several weeks to discuss the outcomes of the senate, house, gubernatorial and local elections across the country. Many Americans were surprised at the outcomes of some of the biggest senate races, like the Texas senate race and the Arizona senate race. There were also several races across the country that took multiple days to count and re-count, including Florida and Georgia. After all of the votes had finally been counted, the Republican party had gained two seats in the Senate, for a total of 53 seats and the Democratic party had gained 23 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them the majority of the House.
Last week, the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative and libertarian student organization under the national Young Americans Foundation branch, held a meeting to discuss the outcome of the midterm election. The Vice President of YAF and Outreach Chair of College Republicans, Katie Carroll, said that she expected more of a Democratic turnout. “They continue to complain about the state of the government but when elections come around they don’t show up. I expected more of a blue wave. I knew they would take control of the house, but I thought they’d at least gain one or two seats in the Senate so it was a surprise,” Carroll said. Carroll also said that she is disappointed to see Mia Love, the first Haitian-American woman in the House of Representatives lose her seat in Utah . “I thought that Mia Love might keep her seat and I’m really sad to see her go, but otherwise the Senate and Congress wins and losses didn’t really surprise me,” Carroll said.
Evelyn Perez, the Director of Outreach for YAF, echoed Carroll’s sentiments. “I honestly expected it to be more of a blue wave than it was because uninformed voters head to the polls believing what the hear on biased news channels,” Perez said. She, like many Americans, said she was keeping her eye on the Texas senate race between incumbent Republican, Senator Ted Cruz and political rookie Beto O’Rourke. “I think [the close race] was a reality check for the Republican party and the state of Texas,” Perez said.
Megan Mattei, the Director of Outreach for a pro-life student organization, and a political science student said she was most interested in the Alabama Amendments on the ballot. “I wasn’t surprised by the Alabama election and I was so happy to see the state supporting Alabama Amendment 2,” Mattei said, referencing an amendment to the state constitution that makes it illegal for tax money to fund abortion. Mattei also said she was surprised by the Gubernatorial race in Alabama. The race was between the incumbent Republican, Governor Kay Ivey and the Mayor of Tuscaloosa, Democrat Walt Mattox. “I noticed a lot of people on campus supporting Mayor Walt Maddox for governor, so it was interesting the Governor Ivey ended up winning,” Mattei said.
On the day following the election, URGE, a student group that focuses on LGBT and abortion hosted a Post-Election Reflection Space. They advertised it on all of their social media accounts saying “Our Post-Election Reflection Space is here for YOU all day TODAY! (10am-9pm) This is a space for anyone to process and express their feelings regarding the results of yesterday’s election.”
As politicians across the country begin announcing that they are running in the primaries, the political student organizations on campus are gearing up for new activities and meetings centered around the 2020 election cycle.
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