Sign encouraging people to vote
Hadley Thompson/The Bona Venture
thompshp20@bonaventure.edu
BY: HADLEY THOMPSON, NEWS EDITOR
Midterm election results have projected Democratic party control of the United States Senate and Republican party control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
St. Bonaventure University has clubs for each of the two major political parties — Republican and Democratic.
Leading up to the Nov. 8 election , both clubs have been involved in helping students register to vote, advocate for voting and for their prospective candidates. Now that results are coming in, leaders in the clubs reflected on the election outcomes.
“In general, I think on both accounts, Democrat and Republican sides, they will be more engaged because the Senate is the upper House in Congress so it has more of an impact on our lives,” said Brevin Austin, a junior political science major and Student Government Representative for the College Democrats.
On a federal scale, Austin said, he felt this way because of how small an amount of bills will get passed through the House compared to the Senate.
“Anything that manages to get through the Senate will be more impactful,” Austin said.
Saidy Bolya, a sophomore marketing and political science major and president of College Republicans, said that the Biden administration is lucky that the Senate will remain under Democratic control.
“The House I definitely think will flip, which is good for the GOP,” Bolya said. “The Biden administration might struggle a little more, but that doesn’t stop executive order.”
Mary Rose Kubal, a political science professor, said in previous administrations, midterm elections have a negative effect on the party in office.
“Usually, I think when voters don’t like the way things are going, they take it out on incumbents,” Kubal said. “They take it out on the president’s party in particular.”
She said that the Biden executive order involving student-loan forgiveness is at stake in the outcome of this election and that public opinion will be a key factor in legislation.
“Without the House they’re not going to be able to legislate that,” Kubal said. “There are a lot of Republicans out there with student-loan debt.”
Kubal said that if Republicans control the House, there will be an opposition to anything the Biden administration has on its agenda.
“The pundits say he dodged a bullet,” Kubal said. “They’re gonna lose the House, but not by nearly as much as we might expect in a midterm where the presidents’ approval rating is relatively low.”
This theme has to do with the recent trend in the nationalization of politics, Kubal said. It is not about local issues anymore, it’s about party leaders.
“Many of these races, the issues that become polarized, they might not actually be at stake,” Kubal said.
Austin said that this election was exciting for education in the U.S. because of the emphasis that Democrats put on public schools and for public universities.
“They will pay a lot more attention to student loan forgiveness and any action that the Senate takes on that front,” Austin said.
Bolya said that she was not sure that the results of the midterm elections will have any direct effect on higher education or college students.
“New York State, as a whole, with this election might have some of a backlash,” Bolya said.
Members of both clubs are looking for more information on the Biden administration’s hopes for student-debt forgiveness.
“Us as college students, we will have to pay it all back in taxes someday. We are already feeling the effects of the COVID-19 checks coming back in taxes with inflation,” Bolya said.
Austin said, with the results of the election, much like judicial nominees should stay the same.
“In terms of the House, it will probably help any budget reconciliation bills, any funding or spending bills,” Austin said.
Erie County, where a large population of students from Bonaventure are from, was only a small margin away from turning red, Bolya said.
Even though Zeldin, the Republican candidate for New York’s gubernatorial race, did not win, Bolya said she was not expecting him to, this time. She mentioned that many of her fellow Republicans are pessimistic about New York State ever going red.
“I think this midterm election showed that it very well could be,” Bolya said. “I think it is possible that New York could be red again.”
Austin said that the reason why New York will never turn red is because of New York City. He mentioned that this leads the Republican party to want to divide the state.
“Between New York City, and what is referred to as upstate and western New York, they have been together since the founding of the state,” Austin said. “Although we do see concerns from people who are not from New York City, but live in major areas like Buffalo, and they don’t feel like they’re represented.”
Kubal said that she believes it is citizens’ jobs to understand what is on and at stake on their ballots.
“In New York State, crime was on the ballot and some Republicans gained back House seats,” Kubal said.
Regardless of the results, Bolya said that she is happy more people had the courage to go out and vote.
“If anything I think it is only positive from here,” Bolya said. “I think it will inspire people from colleges to vote.”
One of the demographics of voting is being highly educated, Kubal said. It now looks like Republicans have obstructed the student debt relief plan, because of the party’s opposition, she said.
“It might be a miscalculation on the part of the Republicans,” Kubal said. “This matters to a lot of people and a lot of likely voters. It was very strategic.”
Austin said that Democratic control will help encourage citizens to vote in 2024.
“Although we most likely do not have control of the House anymore, they will see how a Democratic run Senate can help their lives,” Austin said.
He said that it depends on how good of a job they do throughout these next two years.
“It can either help or hinder the Biden administration when it comes to 2024,” Austin said.
Both clubs, though they have their differences, hope to continue to see voter turnout and prosperity for New York State.
“We hope over the next two years, Democrats realize where they messed up so they can fix it and get the public to support us again.”
Austin said that the gubernatorial race results should not have been as close as they were.
“The results from the governor’s race speak for themselves,” Austin said. “There are some voters that were affected by policies so we have to do what we can to win them back.”
Austin said that this representation is something that Democrats could work on over these next two years.
Both clubs and professors hope to continue to experience the impact of college students voting in elections.
“As college students, we are experiencing this in real life, we feel the negative effects of what has been happening in our country and New York State specifically,” Bolya said. “We are one of the biggest demographics in the country.”
Kubal said that it is important to hear from college students because they are more likely to vote and politicians appeal to the most likely voters.
“The more the college student demographic is voting, the more politicians are going to listen to you,” Kubal said. “I think it’s just good civic education.”
thompshp20@bonaventure.edu
