The night before early voting began in Texas, the West Mall was active as student political organizations promoted big ticket candidates.
But while much of the hype this election season concerns the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, UT’s political organizations also pour time into their respective parties’ other candidates in hopes of altering the political landscape.
University Democrats have been displaying their “Obama for President” and “Noriega for U.S. Senate” signs since before early voting began. Despite the overt advertisements for “bigger” candidates in contested races, UDems also made sure to remind early voters of an overlooked fact: “Change doesn’t stop at the top.”
UDems President Zack Hall said one-third of UT students who voted in the primary elections only voted for a presidential candidate, ignoring lower candidates, which he said could hinder UDems efforts if something similar happens on Election Day.
“[Students] voted for one position, and they left,” Hall said. “They didn’t vote for senator. They didn’t vote for any other position down the ballot.”
The organization has employed phone banking and neighborhood walking measures in order to raise awareness of lesser-known but vital candidates, Hall said.
“We have made 4,500 calls in the last week to key districts in Texas that will make the Texas House [of Representatives] Democratic again, making sure we have representatives in the Texas house that are going the represent students,” he said.
Democrats are five seats away from winning a majority in the Texas House this November.
Norman Horn, a graduate student and member of Libertarian Longhorns, said the group is open to endorsing candidates of every political stripe but encourages individual members to make their own decisions when it comes to supporting candidates.
“Libertarian Longhorns is not specifically a partisan group,” he said. “We support any and all candidates who are liberty-minded,” which Horn explained was “freedom for the individual.”
Horn cited the group’s endorsement of Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, in the Republican primary earlier this year as the across-party-lines view of the Libertarian Longhorns.
“The group as a whole represents a lot of different backgrounds,” he said. “We tend to withhold any endorsement unless we’re absolutely convinced of [a candidate’s] integrity.”
Michael Garcia, spokesman for College Republicans, said their efforts to draw attention to down-ballot candidates is consistent with their limited government agenda and ensuring accurate representation in the counties surrounding Travis County.
“It’s better if you have a choice at the local level,” he said. “Excepting Travis [County], there are a lot of conservative districts around Austin, and the balance of power should reflect that.”
Garcia said College Republicans have attempted to inform students by bringing candidates and policy makers to their meetings for one-on-one interactions. Most recently, the group hosted a discussion on energy by Chairman Michael Williams of the Texas Railroad Commission.
“A lot of people don’t even know what the Railroad Commission is or does,” Garcia said. “We rented out a room there in the Union, and [Williams] gave a speech about energy in Texas. People said they learned a lot of stuff they didn’t know before.”
College Republicans have started utilizing neighborhood walking initiatives to raise awareness of lesser-known candidates, which Garcia said have been extremely helpful.
In a one-day, block-walking effort for Pam Waggoner, candidate for Texas House District 48, he said College Republican members knocked on about 150 doors.
“In some of these races, 150 votes could turn these races around,” Garcia said.
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