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Saturday, May 17, 2025

The next generation of politics

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Longwood mock debate 2016

Fellow Lancers, families, faculty and staff gathered in Jarman Auditorium to witness the mock presidential debate hosted by the College Democrats of Longwood and the College Republicans of Longwood on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Before each party made their opening statements, Kyle Dobry spoke as a representative of the Libertarian party in support of its presidential nominee, Gary Johnson. Dobry announced and encouraged the audience to participate in the protest which was held on Brock Commons, Sept. 22 to allow both Johnson and William “Bill” Weld, Johnson’s running-mate, to participate in upcoming debates.

The Democrat panel included, Joe Hyman, president of the College Democrats, Will Grainer, and Franklin Marrs.

The Republican panel included Kaitlin Owens, Geoffrey Goodwin and Josue Gallardo.

Some controversial topics during the debate included gun rights, affirmative action, minimum wage, birth control, transgender bathrooms and tolerance for marijuana on campus.

Owens participated in the mock presidential debate for her first time this semester. However, this is her third year as a member of the College Republicans of Longwood. Some of the topics Owens was most passionate about included free birth control and affirmative action.

“I think it (College Republicans of Longwood) is very informative. We talk about issues whether it be social issues, policy issues or terrorist acts. We don’t always agree, and that’s not a bad thing,” said Owens.

President of College Republicans of Longwood, Malina Foldesi has been a member for two years. The subject of abortion meant most to her.

“Contrary to the people on stage, I am very pro-life. That’s the issue that got me involved with the Republican Party, and then the rest kind of fell into place,” said Foldesi.

“I feel the debate was good. There were a few partisan issues that both the Republican and Democrats agreed on, which definitely gives me hope for the future, but I do feel there were some areas that the Republicans could improve on, but overall I think we (Republicans) did good,” said Foldesi.

The winning party was voted on by the audience, and the College Democrats of Longwood won this year’s debate.

“I thought the debate was extremely successful. We had a great turnout, and we had a great, mostly civil, discussion on stage. There were a lot of great discussions about different issues that we don’t often hear about,” said Hyman.

Hyman described how the panel spent several hours the week before preparing for the debate in order to make sure “everything was in place and that our sources were reliable.”

During the debate, the audience was allowed to live tweet using the hashtag #LUMockDebate to respond and ask questions.

A few questions were selected toward the end of the debate when votes from the audience were being counted. One of the questions selected from the audience addressed police brutality and how the issue could be solved. Something both parties took pride in was their ability to agree on certain issues, including finding a solution to police brutality.

Following the closing statements of each party, Dr. William Harbour, associate professor in Political Science, closed by congratulating both panels on not making any personal attacks at each other throughout the debate and expressed pride in the upcoming generation of politicians. He shared with the audience that in his opinion both sides were winners of the debate.