College Republicans and College Libertarians court Republican votes in gubernatorial election at Liberty

• College Republicans and College Libertarians raising support for their candidates for the Virginia gubernatorial election in November.
• Gubernatorial race is expected to be tight, and Liberty’s political clubs hope students will get out and vote.

As Nov. 7 quickly approaches, the College Republicans and the College Libertarians at Liberty University are preparing for a tight gubernatorial race in Virginia.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie and Democratic candidate Ralph Northam were tied for support at 42 percent according to a Sept. 18 USA Today/Suffolk University poll.

In the 2016 presidential election, 85 percent of the Liberty student body voted for President Donald Trump, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Since the majority of Liberty students vote for Republicans, College Republicans President John Wood said the chapter’s primary goal this year is convincing students to stay politically active during a non-presidential election season.

“Our focus is registering voters on campus, turning out voters on campus, and then assisting the local party with door knocking, phone banking and other activities,” Wood said. “It’s the not-so-glamorous work that wins elections.”

College Libertarians Vice President Aaron Sobczak said the club is focusing on raising awareness for Virginia’s lone third-party candidate, Cliff Hyra.

“We’ll be canvassing at least every other weekend, going to various events and trying to get the word out about Cliff,” Sobczak said. “It’s an important election, and the Libertarian candidate for governor last election in Virginia got 6.5 percent of the vote.”

Sobczak predicted Northam will win over the commonwealth due to conservative dissatisfaction with Gillespie’s reputation as establishment candidate.

“I think it’s going to be a decisive election because Virginia has been drifting more and more blue over the years,” Sobczak said. “I think that when, not if, the state goes to Ralph Northam, it’ll be safe to say Virginia’s a blue state after that.”

However, Wood is more confident that Gillespie could win the election with current polls showing him and Northam neck to neck. He believes that Virginia is still a battleground state due to the Republican majority in the House of Delegates and Senate.

“This is not going to be a blow out election either way,” Wood said. “I would be absolutely shocked if the statewide margin was more than 10,000 votes.”

Wood said this election is particularly important for Virginia residents, as the state has lagged behind the national average in economic growth the past few years.

“For Virginians, this is really an economically-focused election,” Wood said. “Gillespie has proposed 10 percent tax cuts across the board for all brackets. Northam doesn’t even have a tax policy. He has a very strong record of voting for tax increases.”

 

 

 

Wood said he understands college students are more disconnected from economic issues as most do not work full-time. However, he pointed out that students still pay taxes and follow regulations local to whatever school they attend.

“It’s important for students to vote here because they’re here eight to nine months out of the year,” Wood said. “They’re paying taxes based on Virginia rates. They have to deal with Virginia and Lynchburg rules, laws and regulations.”

College Libertarians President Jorge Reyes and Sobczak think that Gillespie’s plan to cut income taxes by 10 percent does not go far enough. They believe Hyra’s plan for more radical tax cuts are necessary to give Virginia’s economy a boost.

“He has plans that will help the individual middle class, lower class people more than Ed and Ralph,” Sobczak said. “He wants to get rid of the income tax entirely for people making under $60K a year.”

Even though Hyra is currently polling at two percent according to the USA Today poll, Reyes believes that voting for Libertarian candidates pushes the two major parties toward stronger candidates.

“Even if they never win, at least the Democrats and Republicans have to send better candidates because there’s always going to be the threat of a third party coming and stealing votes away,” Reyes said.

Although Wood and Reyes disagree on which candidate to vote for, they both believe that students should stay politically engaged during non-presidential election seasons.

“It’s easy to think that, in the grand scheme of things, your vote doesn’t matter,” Wood said. “(That) may be the case at some schools, but not at Liberty. The students on campus actually have the power to change elections.”

The College Libertarians meet the first Tuesday of every month and will be hosting the next chapter meeting Oct. 3. The College Republicans meet twice a month, and the next meeting is Thursday, Sept. 28.