UA College Republicans, a group that seeks to increase student support for the Republican Party, has had a wealth of energy since the beginning of the school year.
Riley McArdle, chairman of the group, said its first meeting welcomed between 50 to 60 people and that the organization’s email chain contains about 1,200 individuals.
“Our first meeting was pretty huge,” McArdle said. “The room was packed more than I expected.”
McArdle expressed some discontent with Republican nominee Donald Trump, referencing Trump’s comments criticizing Republican Brian Kemp, the popular governor of Georgia, a battleground state in the 2020 election that swung blue. McArdle characterized the attack as unhelpful, saying that voters, especially suburban women — a group Trump is struggling to gain the support of — are put off by infighting.
He also said that Trump’s messaging on draining the swamp and destroying the establishment has become “kind of old hat at this point.”
McArdle said the former president should step back from his populist approach, arguing that this is not what voters want to hear.
“We’re not as in love with Donald Trump as maybe Democrats are with Kamala Harris,” McArdle said.
Looking back to this year’s Republican primary, McArdle expressed a wistfulness for then-candidate Nikki Haley, praising her discourse around foreign policy issues and saying that he himself had primaried for her. McArdle mentioned an offshoot movement of the Republican Party, “Haley Voters for Harris,” and asserted that it was a result of the contentious Republican primary season.
McArdle said he thinks Trump’s most effective messaging centers on the economy. He stressed the effectiveness of blaming the uptick in grocery and gas prices on Harris’s policy decisions. He also mentioned Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, saying it was a humanitarian crisis.
“I think [Trump] needs to remind people: Here’s what the last four years, in a broad scope, have looked like. … A lot of foreign policy issues, you know, Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, Afghanistan. Say the world is on fire. Nikki Haley did a good job of saying that all the time,” McArdle said.
In reference to recent political developments, McArdle recalled being unsurprised by President Biden dropping out of the race, believing it was obvious to Democrats he had “no fighting chance” against Trump. McArdle expressed frustration over a tendency in the Republican party to underestimate Harris, stressing that her policy should be the focus of the argument against her candidacy, not personal attacks.
Regarding Trump’s choice for vice president, Senator JD Vance, McArdle was not initially thrilled, as he felt Vance was too similar to Trump in both personality and policy.
McArdle characterized Vance’s comments about childless cat ladies as a misstep and said he didn’t think it “made much sense.” McArdle floated names he would have preferred for the vice president pick, including Glenn Youngkin and Marco Rubio, who he believed would have brought in more moderate voters.
However, McArdle now feels Vance has “started to prove himself,” praising Vance for his visibility and referencing his rallies and commitment to campaigning “basically every day.” McArdle said this before the Vice Presidential debate that occurred on Tuesday and mentioned he is hopeful that Vance will help appeal to young voters and usher in a new generation of the Republican Party.
McArdle expressed a desire for civility and tolerance to return to the culture of politics, condemning both sides for contributing to divisiveness. UA College Republicans has been involved with the bipartisan campus organization Common Ground, working closely with them to encourage open discourse.
McArdle also mentioned the importance of voting in the upcoming election.
“People have fought and died for your right to vote, so you kind of owe it to those people to exercise that right,” McArdle said.
