From even before the primary elections to the announcement of party candidates, political groups on Grounds have been working to ensure the victory of their respective candidates.
Since the College Republicans rescinded their support of now President-elect Donald Trump in October, they spent much of their resources helping the Tom Garrett campaign at the local level.
Adam Kimelman, a second year College student and College Republicans vice chair of campaigns, said the group has two main goals moving forward.
“The first will be to try to unify not just only our organization and party, but our U.Va. community and country,” Kimelman said. “We realize that there are a lot of people who are waking up sad, angry and worried this morning, and as College Republicans and Americans we need to help bring our country together.”
Kimelman said the second objective will be to focus on future local campaigns for the 2017 governors, lieutenant governors and attorney general races.
The University Democrats helped campaign for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Jane Dittmar, the fifth district candidate who lost to Garrett.
Sam Tobin, fourth-year College student and University Democrats president, said while the organization has not had an opportunity to meet and discuss the election outcome, there are broad goals they hope to focus on in the coming years.
“We are going to continue to fight for the values that we stand for and fight for making this country a better place and fairer, for people of every socioeconomic background, making it more inclusive for every group in this country and making sure we stand for a progressive future,” Tobin said.
As with the College Republicans, upcoming local elections are also major focal points for the University Democrats.
“We will most certainly do the work necessary, the work to change on the national level, and hopefully we can capture the White House in four years ,and that starts at the state and local levels,” Tobin said.
While these two groups have existed at the University before, groups like Students for Trump and Youth for Johnson/Weld at U.Va. came into existence in order to support their respective presidential candidates.
Sabrina Kim, a second-year College student and Students for Trump ambassador, said although the group's main objective has been fulfilled, there are still possibilities for the organization to act.
“We're re-evaluating nationally to see what we can do,” Kim said. “Obviously there hasn't been a lot of turnaround time, and we'll most likely take the time between now and the inauguration to work out a plan.”
She also said that the campaigning has been both difficult but rewarding.
“This election was hard overall because it was so close — either way roughly 50 percent of the population would have been isolated and angry,” Kim said. “It's personally been very hard on me because, as a young Republican, I'm in the minority both within my generation and especially here on Grounds.”
Youth for Johnson/Weld, however, has a more clear first step following the election results.
Cameron Springer, a third-year Engineering student and co-leader of Johnson/Weld, said the group has just established itself as the University Libertarians and will continue to be an active CIO on Grounds.
Springer said although Libertarians lean right, he does not want outsiders confusing them with Republicans and wants people who lean right but do not agree with Trump to see them as an option.
“My hope is that our organization will give home to those who are fiscally conservative, like to cut the budget, would like to see the government shrink, but aren’t for all the culturally conservative views of the Trump campaign,” Springer said.
Reactions on Grounds to Trump’s election have been varied. Several groups have released statements expressing distress at the news.
The Black Student Alliance released a statement cautioning students moving forward.
“Sentiments of fear, depression and anger have stormed our community as a result of the election,” the statement read. “It has caused many of in our community to weep, but we must all remain strong.”
Michael Mason, asst. dean of the Office of African American Affairs, said he feels similarly worried about the future state of the country and race relations.
“In these moments, I have to acknowledge that I am one of the parents Van Jones described as being ‘afraid of breakfast,’” Mason said in a statement. “I hardly could bring myself to tell my daughters that Trump had won.”
The SABLE Society, a secret society on Grounds, said Trump’s campaign was based in “hate, violence and division.”
“Indeed, he is the oldest and truest reflection of what this nation has been and, as evidenced by last night, continues to be,” a statement from SABLE read. “It is important that we recognize that hatred, bigotry, sexism, xenophobia and white supremacy are alive and well.”
However, not all reactions to Trump’s election were negative.
Third-year College student John Flanagan said Trump’s win was not a fluke, but the will of the people.
“Donald Trump won because he listened to the concerns of these forgotten men and women, and put forth far better policies related to immigration, law and order, and radical Islamic terrorism than Hillary Clinton,” Flanagan said. “The most important thing now is that we unify as a country after this tumultuous campaign, both Democrats and Republicans, and respect one another's political differences.”
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