By Bailey Brammer | Staff Writer
Although Texas has been a primarily right-leaning state for decades, this year’s atypical presidential race brought with it an abundance of new opinions and ideas. For the Baylor College Republicans club, this semester was a chance to spread their conservative ideologies with a somewhat divided campus.
The Baylor College Republicans have spent their time focused primarily on the election. The club worked with the McClennan County Republican party, campaigned for U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, volunteered at phone banks and hosted debate watch parties as well as an election watch party on Tuesday.
“We’re spreading awareness about Republican values to college students,” said Little Rock, Ark. senior Sara Grove, co-chair of Baylor College Republicans. “We want students to get involved in the political process, and we’re a resource for students that want to work in politics in the future.”
The organization, which is a chapter of the Texas Federation of College Republicans (TXFCR), meets every other Monday and has almost 90 regular members.
According to the TXFCR, the goals of the federation as a whole are “to recruit, train and mobilize the next generation of Republican leadership.”
For Longview senior Marivious Allen, co-chair of Baylor College Republicans, the club is not only about politics, but also about supporting one another through whatever may come up.
“This organization is about having a family you can go and talk to, even when it’s not political,” Allen said. “If you’re struggling in class, if you’re homesick… We’re not just a political organization, we’re a family.”
Along with participating in local and national campaigning, the Baylor College Republicans often have guest speakers from the political world attend their meetings, such as Vincent Harris, founder and CEO of Harris Media, who has played a role in the digital side of presidential elections since 2008.
Following the Republican’s national victory in both Congress and the presidential race, the Baylor College Republicans are eager to see where the nation will go next.
‘I was very pleased and very excited with the results,” Grove said. “Not only did the [American] people say that they wanted a change in the executive administration, but the nation also spoke at their local levels that they wanted a change.”
Allen was enthusiastic about the results of the election as well, and believes that Trump will be good for the entire country, not just Republicans or Democrats.
“I think Trump will be a great bipartisan president,” Allen said. “I think there were a lot of people that were doubtful of him, but now that we’ve actually won, they’re going to try to make the best out of what we have. His platform is for America first, not Conservatives first.”
According to The Washington Post, as of October, the state of Texas was in danger of becoming a swing state in the presidential race. While Texas ultimately maintained it’s Republican nature, Allen said that the fight to keep the state to the right was not without difficulty.
“I’m not going to say it was an easy battle to keep Texas red, but it was a hard fought battle,” Allen said. “We’re trying to move forward as a nation. I’m tired of being Republican or Democrat, I just want to be American.”
As both the nation and the Baylor College Republicans move forward, Allen believes that bridging the gap in the nation’s divisiveness begins with listening and stepping up to defend one’s views.
“It starts with listening. And we can talk all day, but at the end of the day if we don’t take action, what’s the point?” Allen said. “I think Trump is a dealmaker, and there’s plenty of things to agree on for both sides. He’s everybody’s president, not just the Republican’s president.”
