Liberty YAF hosts Virginia Legislators Panel
The Liberty University branch of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) hosted the Virginia legislators panel Oct. 24 featuring Delegate Tim Griffin, Delegate Wendell Walker and Virginia State Senator Mark Peake. The goal of YAF, according to President Isaiah Varella, is “to educate and equip students with conservative, Biblical values.”
The club executive board is composed of seven student executives: Varella, Vice President Ana Radke, Secretary Lorrielle Tweedy, Treasurer Steven Loomans, Head of Outreach Troy Erickson, Event Coordinator Hannah Green and Social Media Director Madison Kelly.
YAF held the event in DeMoss Hall, Room 1336. Each of the attendees arrived well ahead of time, and the energy in the room was quiet and respectful while showing excitement. The three officials promptly entered the classroom accompanied by Varella and Radke. Varella opened the night with a word of prayer, and then he asked the three speakers to introduce themselves.
Griffin, Peake and Walker are current elected Virginia officials, and all three are Liberty alumni. Peake was elected to represent Virginia’s 8th District, which encompasses Bedford County, Campbell County and the City of Lynchburg, in 2017. Walker was elected to represent the 52nd District in Virginia’s House of Delegates, which includes the City of Lynchburg and part of Campbell County. He was also the first Liberty graduate to be elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates. Griffin is a freshman in Virginia’s House of Delegates, having served as a representative to the 53rd District since January of this year.
The president and vice president started with a few questions before opening the floor for a Q&A. Questions included smaller issues the legislators are working to fix now and larger issues they are working toward addressing. In addition, the event covered candidate platforms, questions about how to enter into politics and areas students can get involved in to help their local communities. Students also wanted to know what inspired each of the men to get into politics, the issues that concerned them about the state of the country and how they were managing those worries.
One student asked the legislators what their concern was regarding current politics, to which Peake responded.
“I’m really concerned about how far apart we are … philosophically. … The right has moved to the right, and the left has moved to the left. And there is very little meeting in the middle as far as compromise, general principles or just general agreement,” Peake said.
“I was kind of expecting them to talk about who they were, give us advice,” freshman Worth Paisley said. “And it was that, but the content itself exceeded my expectations. Just because of how personal they got and how much they seemed to care.”
The formal Q&A ended after an hour, and the night wrapped up after a group photo was taken of everyone in attendance. The three officials remained in the room to speak with students who still had questions.
For more information about YAF and its upcoming events, visit its Instagram page @lu_yaf.
Hughes is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.