Second-year Law student Erich Reimer is running for Student Council representative and vice president of the Student Bar Association in the Law School with a campaign based off of the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
With the campaign slogan “Make U.Va. Law Great Again” and hats resembling Trump’s signature baseball caps, Reimer said he is parodying Trump’s policies and campaign strategies to drum up more interest and support from student voters.
“I decided to use this campaign strategy because I felt there were several unique circumstances and issues at the Law School right now that would allow me to run an effective Trump-style campaign,” Reimer said in an email statement.
His campaign has a Facebook page promoting his candidacy which lays out a series of proposals and a several paragraphs long stump speech, all written in the style of Trump’s speeches. His top proposals include building a wall between the Law School and the Darden School.
Reimer said he believes his unique campaign strategy will earn him more interest from potential voters.
“I felt that the upcoming student government elections sounded like they were going to be quite boring,” he said, “and so I wanted to add something to it that would make it more interesting for people.”
Second-year Law student Tom Sanford, who is working on Reimer’s “Committee to Make U.Va. Law Great Again” believes the campaign strategy will be effective.
“These elections tend to generate minimal enthusiasm, but Erich's message adds some excitement and humor,” Sanford said.
Second-year Law student Cooper Vaughan, a Reimer supporter, also got involved in the satirical approach to the campaign.
“Reimer is running on his strong record of managing organizations, telling it like it is and winning so much we get tired of winning,” Vaughan said.
Despite parodying his campaign, Reimer himself does not support Trump in the presidential race.
“I personally support Gov. John Kasich's candidacy, which I have since September 2015,” he said.
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