Students gather in Hoff Theater for the Democratic debate watch party, hosted by this university’s College Democrats and Terps for Bernie.
About 300 students gathered Tuesday to watch the five Democratic presidential candidates meet face-to-face for the first time during the 2016 campaign.
The University of Maryland College Democrats and Terps for Bernie co-hosted a Democratic debate watch party at Stamp Student Union’s Hoff Theater. UMD College Democrats President Jake Polce said the watch party marked the group’s kickoff event this season.
Polce, a sophomore government and politics major, said he wants to engage all politically inclined students during this election cycle. The College Democrats and College Republicans soon will join forces to debate and discuss contested issues as a way to foster campus-wide interest, he said.
“There’s a huge difference between parties this election,” Polce said. “The other side isn’t talking about income inequality or making college more affordable, and they’re scapegoating illegal immigrants without trying to understand what’s really going on.”
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UMD College Republicans have also hosted debate watch parties this year. At its Sept. 16 event, the club packed 80 people into Ledo Restaurant for the event, said Breyer Hillegas, the club’s president.
“Having 17 candidates piques interest. It’s always exciting to have fresh, new candidates and no incumbent,” the senior biology major said. “This is the most important election that we’re going to see, since so much is at stake.”
Hillegas said he is pleased with the degree of enthusiasm displayed by his organization this year.
“Before Terps for Bernie, we were the biggest political group on campus,” Hillegas said. “We have about 65 people coming to each meeting and definitely about 70 active members.”
Between 40 to 100 students show up to each meeting, and almost 550 students signed up for the group’s listserv, said Christopher Walkup, a Terps for Bernie co-founder.
“It says that we’re a Bernie campus,” the junior government and politics and theatre major said.
Both Hillegas and Polce said that after primary elections, both organizations will begin campaigning and fundraising on behalf of their parties’ nominees and will send members to swing states to knock on doors and make phone calls.
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“I feel like a lot of the time with college students there’s a lot of apathy,” Polce said. “We want to do our part to hold on to the White House so we can move forward and not backward.”
Many students said the high attendance at Tuesday’s event indicated the student body’s commitment to democracy and passion for the politics.
“The most important thing is the fact that people are actually interested,” said Salman Hashmi, a junior economics major. “The future is bright, but we want to know who can help us, and it comes down to knowing who is out there.”
