UA College Democrats have a notable new energy thanks to the presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The group, composed of over 200 members, aims to educate campus with meetings and tabling events.
UA College Democrats’s president, Braden Vick, said recent enthusiasm among Democrats is “really unrivaled” due to Harris now leading the ticket.
“I’ve never been one that really liked Kamala Harris, but I think the message behind this campaign has been one that has more than energized me, and I think there are countless people across this country, and across this campus that it has energized,” said Sam McKinney, vice president of UA College Democrats.
Looking back to when President Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee, Vick said there was a major lack of excitement, claiming that independent campaigners were demotivated because they did not believe their candidate could win.
Vick believes Harris has “flipped the script,” both by bringing in young voters and by eliciting belief that the Democratic party can be victorious in the 2024 race.
“Not only is there a campaign that young voters feel like is a lot more receptive to our concerns, but it’s a campaign that can win,” Vick said.
Harris’s VP pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is another reason McKinney is supporting Harris. McKinney sees both candidates as people who understand the plight of middle class people and “aren’t going to exploit them.”
UA College Democrats is always working to further its reach, Hunter said. The group recently created a TikTok, has an X account in the works and runs an Instagram account with about 1,000 followers.
Making voting a top priority, the group encouraged voter registration at Get On Board Day. The organization said additional collaborative projects to promote voting with other college organizations are in the works.
But even amidst the newfound excitement, UA College Democrats, like any other organization, has had its fair share of challenges.
Madison Hunter, the group’s communications chair, noted how it has been difficult to reach those in Greek life, particularly in fraternities. It has, however, gotten easier with Harris as the candidate, as she was in the historically-Black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in college.
The general divisiveness of political culture has been another challenge for the group.
Although UA College Dems brought in over 70 new members at Get On Board Day, Hunter pointed out that the group also dealt with its fair share of hecklers.
In an effort to diffuse high tensions, the group works closely with Common Ground, a non-partisan organization on campus that promotes open discourse. McKinney says freedom of speech and the ability to disagree are pillars of “what makes us Americans.”
“We want to be respectful. We want to have those conversations,” Hunter said.
Another obstacle the group is currently dealing with is differing views on how the party should go about messaging nationally.
McKinney said that doomsday messaging that a Republican win would spell the end of America is “very dangerous” rhetoric. Vick followed this answer by saying that if Trump won, America would become “the world’s most disgraced fallen democracy.”
The group leaders pressed the importance of voting, stressing that no matter who someone supports, voting is the key to keeping the country going.
“We all have a voice. Every one person has an equal voice when you get to the ballot box. Everyone’s vote counts the same as the other vote,” Vick said.
