By Taliyah Clark | Reporter, and Brooke Bentley | Reporter
Baylor students from both sides of the political spectrum came together Monday night in the Bill Daniels Student Center to watch the first presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.
Topics revolved around job creation, the national debt, national security and race relations in America.
Fort Worth sophomore and conservative Elizabeth Larson said the debate surprised her and exceeded her expectations, which were pretty low coming in.
“She [Clinton] continuously tried to bait him, but he held his ground,” Larson said. “He articulated his main points on NATO, Iran deal and law and order really well.”
San Diego junior Leanne Rohrbach, who is a Clinton supporter, left the debate very satisfied as well.
“I really appreciate her dry humor and her comments about the fact checkers,” Rohrbach said. “It was refreshing to hear her talk about policy rather than the various affairs she’s been involved in.”
Former United States congressman Chet Edwards also gave his thoughts on the first presidential debate.
“I think the response from the American people will be that those who supported Clinton will still support Clinton and those who supported Trump will still support Trump,” Edwards said. “On the issue of image and style, she seemed more presidential to me and he seemed a little more agitated, and I don’t think that comes across well to undecided voters, but we will see in the polls in the days ahead.”
The second presidential debate will be held Sunday, Oct. 9, at Washington University in St. Louis.
Wearing their opposing party’s colors, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated one-on-one for the first time this election.
As 5th generation Texan, born and raised in segregated Waco, Linda Lewis has been involved with Texas democratic organizations for 51 years. Having worked under two Texas governors as well as on the staff of Baylor Law graduate Bob Bullock, a Texas Democratic politician credited with being a principal architect of modern Texas government, Lewis considers herself a fan and a mentor to the Baylor Democrats.
“My expectation for Hillary is that she will once again demonstrate that she is the most experienced, best prepared person to have the nuclear codes and to be Commander in Chief,” Lewis said.
In a combined debate watch party at Casa de Castillo on Monday night, the McLennan County Democrats, Texas Democratic Women and the Baylor Democrats came together to support Clinton.
“I think Hillary did a phenomenal job and it went exactly according to plan,” said Baylor Democrats President Micah Furlong. “They couldn’t have orchestrated it better and I think she proved herself.”
Complete with Hillary stickers, posters and pins, the Waco area democrats felt confident that Clinton would fare well against Trump.
“I trust that the American people are more intelligent than Trump gives them credit for,” Furlong said. “They are going to see a president who is confident and who is calm under pressure and think to themselves, maybe the lies I’ve been hearing [about Hillary] over the last 20 years aren’t true.”
