Last night the College Democrats of Saint Mary’s hosted “Pjs and Politics,” a watch party for the 2024 presidential elections in the SGA conference room in the Student Center basement. At 6:30 p.m., tensions were felt by students as the event and the countdown to the end of the election began.
The College Republicans of Saint Mary’s did not host a watch party on campus, but opted to join the Saint Joseph Republican Party in the Gillespie Conference Center. The executive coordinator of the club, sophomore Elysia Morales, mentioned the event was a “celebration of working so hard for this” and are hoping for “good results.”
Junior Alli Jablonski, the president of College Democrats, led the event, believing “students deserve the opportunity to come together and have support in stressful times.”
She wanted to provide this space, and said she was “really inspired to have a comfortable, safe environment where students can do that and they can have live updates.”
Jablonski reinstated the College Democrats club in the spring of 2024 and knew she wanted to hold an election party for Saint Mary's students early on in her presidency.
“I was really passionate about getting students involved, and especially at an all-women’s college. I believe that women should have a voice in politics, and I believe that College Democrats serves as a great foundation for them,” Jablonski said.
During the watch party, students came in and out of the conference room. Attendees were on edge as NBC News broadcast updates to election data.
Discussions of the gender gap and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision were attention-getters to the group as NBC reported the growing importance of young college educated women voters.
Freshmen Lauren Alwine and Jocelin Raygoza agreed the College Democrat watch party helped them find community amongst students while away from home.
"This is our first election, and it's great to be in this together and to feel as though you have a support system," Alwine said.
“This whole thing’s very nerve wracking, and you don’t know what things are going to happen, so to have this event and be with other women is very empowering.” Raygoza added.
During the College Democrat watch party, an attendee's service dog arrived to relieve some of the atmospheric tension in the room. The dog was instantly greeted by the group with admiring pets from students.
Morales added the county GOP’s election party was also meant to recognize the success of having a large number of members of the party voting in the presidential election and the local GOP recording a high voter turnout.
Morales said the biggest political issues included building a stronger economy and bringing back conservative values. For her, this includes freedom of speech, especially with “the censorship that has been happening since the beginning of the election.”
She also said is also concerned about Title IX federal amendment and “taking men out of women’s bathrooms,” as well as illegal immigration.
Morales stated the current presidential administration has made the average citizen further distrust the government with recent events. To amend this, she believes the next presidency to “get back to more transparency and honesty” for the country as a whole.
Morales said it is “imperative to have a strong, even keeled and even stubborn president” as it “not only determines our nation, but determines our world.”
Whether either party candidate wins, Morales said that the United States will continue to be a united nation and still be the "greatest country" to exist. She encouraged everyone to vote based on the policies the candidate represents rather than their character.
“No candidate is ever going to be perfect. You may not like the person but like their policies, and that is enough," Morales said. “I personally don’t like the entirety of the GOP candidate, but I am voting for him because of his policies. If you don’t vote, you don’t have an opinion on this. I don’t care who you vote for, I just want you to vote.”
