The School of Public Affairs Graduate Council and American University College Republicans invited students to sit back, relax and enjoy the recent vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance at their watch parties on Oct. 1.
A small group gathered in the basement of Kerwin Hall for the SPA Graduate Council watch party. Attendees enjoyed food and drink during the debate while responding and reacting to statements from both sides of the political spectrum. On the other side of the quad, almost double the number of people gathered at AUCR’s watch party, chatting with friends and watching the candidates.
As for the SPA Graduate Council viewing, the turnout was much smaller than was anticipated given their past turnouts this year, according to Edwin Santos, the president of the SPA Graduate Council and first-year masters student in SPA. Last month, the SPA Graduate Council Presidential Debate watch party brought many attendees who barely had room to sit.
“Last month we hosted the presidential debate watch party between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and that was interesting to watch and a lot of people showed out,” Santos said.“The room was really packed, and we had to bring in a lot of extra chairs to the people in here and we had pizza.”
Santos said the SPA Graduate Council plans these types of events to try and bring students together.
“I know that AU itself, in general, is also a university where students are very interested in getting involved in the elections,” Santos said. “I thought that it was a perfect way to be able to bring students together and most importantly become more educated students and more educated citizens and more educated voters.”
The AUCR had an unexpectedly high turnout, according to Joel Pritikin, the president of AUCR and a sophomore in SPA. For the vice presidential debate, around 20 people made their way to the AUCR watch party in the School of International Service building.
“The turnout was amazing,” Pritikin said. “ I really didn’t think it would be good tonight, especially because we had posted the announcement so late.”
Neither Pritikin or Luke Brown, a sophomore in SPA, knew why the turnout of the AUCR watch party debate was larger than expected. However, Brown believes that because the public had already seen Harris and Trump, there was more anticipation from students for the debate between Walz and Vance.
“We've already seen Trump a lot. We've seen Kamala a lot, but no one knows really who JD Vance and Tim Walz are, and I think people were excited to finally see them face off,” Brown said.
But to Pritikin, the turnout debate night doesn't only matter for one night but predicts how the turnout for the semester will be.
“It's not just the debate,” Pritikin said. “The debate attendance is the microcosm for how successful we're going to be in the year, especially with campaigning. That's the main goal this semester is going to be campaigning.”
Students had varied reactions to statements made during the debate by both Walz and Vance. Many of them cheered, whistled or snapped in agreement with statements made by either candidate.
“Well, based on last time, I feel like there’s definitely going to be some reactions,” Santos said. “It's natural for people to have reactions and there was some [laughter] last time, some gasps and some facial reactions from those attending.”
A comment made by Vance during the debate, in which he claimed that if Trump gets back in the White House “the American dream is going to be attainable once again” left Roger Rolando Reyes, a second-year masters student in SIS, laughing as he left the watch party.
“The reason I was laughing was because I find that speaking as a civilian and as just myself, I think that that’s categorically untrue,” Reyes said. “I think that Donald Trump as a leader has left a lot to be desired. As somebody who focuses on public diplomacy at [SIS], we often study what’s called reputational security, and unfortunately, Donald Trump’s administration really damaged the way that the world views us.”
This story was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Ella Rousseau and Ariana Kavoossi.
