Gubernatorial Races: Another Political Platform at GW

After hours of canvassing, phone-banking, and registering voters, GW College Republicans and College Democrats eagerly awaited the culmination of nearly a semester’s worth of campaigning for their respective candidates in the off-year gubernatorial elections last night.

At each organization’s election results watch party, students watched television broadcasts of the incoming results, followed the reporting on laptops, and discussed the results with other members of the organizations.  Voted the nation’s most politically-active students by the Princeton Review earlier this year, GW students displayed their enthusiasm for the campaign and election process.

The College Republicans gathered in Colombian Square amid balloons and campaign signs, awaiting the results for their candidates while the Democrats watched for the results upstairs in the Continental Ballroom.

College Republican members cheered and applauded as CNN called the Virginia gubernatorial election in favor of Republican Bob McDonnell, but it was not until the parties had ended that the results of the other two major races of the evening were reported. In New Jersey, republican Chris Christie was elected governor, beating out incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. In the race for a House seat in upstate New York, Republican Doug Hoffman conceded defeat to Democrat Bill Owens.

Both organizations were extremely involved in the campaigns of candidates for governor of Virginia and New Jersey – two states with high student representation at GW. Republican and Democrat students made multiple trips to go door to door or make phone calls to reach voters in both states.

Director of Public Relations Andrew Clark ’11 said that the Republicans made over 75,000 voter contacts in Virginia and New Jersey since the beginning of the term. College Republicans began the semester with their annual kickoff celebration, which featured McDonnell as the keynote speaker. Clark said McDonnell’s speech at the event was phenomenal and he left members of the College Republicans excited to campaign for him.

“After our loss in the last election, our members were very psyched to campaign in an election they thought they could win,” said Clark.

College Republicans’ President Brandon Hines ’10 said that the organization had really focused on campaigning in Virginia. During the last 96 hours before the elections, members were out campaigning every day from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Hines, Clark, and many other Republicans had high hopes for a party victory. A sweep of all three major races – Virginia, New Jersey, and the special House election in New York District 23 – was the ideal turnout, Clark said. However, even two of the three would be good for the party.

Many of the Republicans viewed the elections as a demonstration of the growing dissatisfaction of voters with the current administration.

“The Obama administration should pick up a strong message that the voters are not happy with what they have seen,” Clark said. ”When they vote for a democrat, they know what they are going to get and they don’t like it.”

“2008 was a style election. 2009 is a reality election,” said Hines. “The candidates that were behind President Obama’s agenda stood with him on health care and all the other issues. They weren’t able to get traction with the voters.”

Upstairs in the Continental Ballroom, GW College Democrats held their own watch party to see what the night would bring. Like their GOP counterparts, the Democrats also spent hours campaigning door to door, making phone calls, and hosting voter registration drives. Members spent time in northern Virginia every weekend since the beginning of the semester as well as taking overnight trips to southern Virginia and to New Jersey and made contact with thousands of voters.

Political Affairs Director Emma Carpenter ’12 expressed hope that the democrats would fair well in the elections despite the polls predicting Republican victories. She predicted that Jon Corzine (D-NJ) still had a chance in New Jersey. One victory among the three major races would be a good, she said.

“What is good is that in Arlington, Va., and in Hampton, Va., where the College Democrats were campaigning, R. Creigh Deeds (D-VA) was doing better than McDonnell,” said Carpenter.

Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats did not see this election as representative of voter approval or disapproval of Obama’s administration.

“In the exit polls, only 24 percent of voters reported voting to express opposition to President Obama,” said Carpenter. “I don’t this was an election about Obama. I think this was people frustrated by the state of the country, and people vote against the party in power when they are frustrated.”

Following the election, both groups will continue to offer programming for their members, including bringing prominent speakers to campus, debating hot issues, and advocating for important issues.