‘We’re not stopping’: On-campus political organizations reflect post-election

Across campus this semester, a range of student political organizations rallied to get students to vote in the 2024 presidential election. Now that Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th U.S. president, three main political organizations — College Democrats at Pitt, College Republicans at Pitt and PittVotes — feel satisfied with their organization’s campaigning efforts this election cycle. 

From tabling to speaker events, each on-campus political organization appealed to student voters differently this year. PittVotes is proud of their efforts to cultivate student political engagement this season through watch parties, outreach and voter events, according to Meggan Lloyd, director of PittServes.

“We were very happy with Pitt’s engagement and enthusiasm during this election period,” Lloyd said. “We saw very high student voter turnout.”

According to precinct results shared by the College Democrats at Pitt, voter turnout increased 285% in Oakland for this presidential election season. 

Encouraging students to vote was a primary focus of the College Democrats at Pitt’s efforts this semester. Henry Cohen, junior political science major and co-president of College Dems, said that despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss, he’s “really proud of the work that we’ve done.”

“People are willing to stand up for something that they care about,” Cohen said. “We were very pleasantly surprised. I don’t think we realized just how excited people were gonna be about this election.”

Both College Democrats at Pitt and College Republicans at Pitt saw increases in their membership this year, according to Cohen and Jesse Milston, secretary of College Republicans at Pitt. After Republicans won the presidential election, the Senate and the House majority, College Republicans “don’t see that momentum stopping.”

“We have so much to do,” Milston said. “Now that we have the political power, we wanna make sure that we’re supporting our voices on campus, we’re supporting students who think like us and we’re supporting all of these people who frankly don’t feel like they can speak their mind on campus.”

Milston is eager to take voter energy and use it to plan more things for College Republicans at Pitt.

“We’re going to take this momentum from this election [and] carry it out into other things to do,” Milston said. “Whether that’s lobbying our local legislators [or] continuing to have big speaker events … we’re doing a lot. So we’re not stopping, not at all.”

Cohen mirrored these sentiments for College Democrats at Pitt, who “have a lot planned.”

“Just because this election’s over doesn’t mean that politics is over as a whole,” Cohen said. 

College Democrats at Pitt will be preparing for the 2025 Pittsburgh mayoral primary, where Mayor Ed Gainey will seek reelection. They also plan to focus on community service and events that politically inform students, according to Cohen. He hopes to “keep that faith alive” in politically engaged students, regardless of where they lean. 

“This stuff is more than just one election,” Cohen said. “It’s more than just one day every four years. It’s a constant process. And we’re going to be ready to go … we’re ready to go now and keep fighting.”

Cohen reassured anyone feeling negatively about the election results that their reactions are valid and can be used to make a difference.

“If you’re feeling upset by what’s happening, it’s OK,” Cohen said. “It’s good to feel that way. I feel that way too. If you feel sad, if you feel angry, channel that anger [politically].”

Trump’s reelection is a “quiet relief,” according to Milston, after a tense election cycle.

“It paid off, and we won,” Milston said. “We took a lot of abuse this semester …  [Some other political groups] harassed our members, bullied them, intimidated us. Our tabling wasn’t always fun … but I do think this election was a vindication.” 

Julia Cassidy, sophomore political science major and recruitment leader of College Republicans at Pitt, thinks that the results of the 2024 election “speaks to how the country has felt over the past four years.”

“I definitely think that after this election, people will be more confident in saying, ‘yeah, I voted a certain way,’ or speaking out against what’s always kind of been the norm,” Cassidy said. “I do think that it will make it less of a taboo thing to openly say, ‘yeah, I’m a Republican.’”

Cassidy hopes that this “new era” will come with more acceptance of differing political opinions. 

“I’ve definitely felt like in classrooms, my views or even just myself as a person was unwelcome because of certain ways that I align on things,” Cassidy said. “I would just encourage people to, especially in the aftermath of all this, just really try and get to know the person and not make judgements based on who you think they voted for.”

A large part of organizing for College Republicans at Pitt has been through tabling and dialogue, which may increase because of the “momentum,” according to Milston. Cassidy thinks that this form of outreach is the most effective for their organization.

“One thing that I’ve learned just from talking to students when I table is that they benefit more and enjoy more of that — like, it’s on them almost to come over and talk to us,” Cassidy said. “We don’t want to kind of get in people’s faces … we have more of a kind of relaxed demeanor.”

Cassidy urged students who are worried to remember that “there’s another election in four years.”

“Obviously, immediately following a tense election, such as this one, there’s going to be emotions no matter what the outcome is,” Cassidy said. “This is a democracy, this is how it works. People vote and things happen because of that. So in another four years, we’ll have the chance again.”