In the modern era, most of our rhetoric revolves around the national scene, whether that be Harris versus Trump or the focus on the DNC and RNC. In a presidential election season, the city and county parties that engage our communities tend to get overlooked. In Cumberland County, there are many active political organizations that want to get students involved.
Julie Lessman, acting chair of the Carlisle Democrats, touched upon the role of local parties, who do not necessarily run the campaigns, but rather support candidates by getting the local community engaged. Whether this be through getting people signs, canvassing or just volunteering.
Similarly, James Evans, who is actively involved in the county Republican Party, talked about how he got involved in local politics to share his values with his community. As an active member of the local party, he works at polling places, hands out flyers and tries to get information about the local Republican Party into the community.
When asked about the importance of local elections, Lessman said, “It’s the local decisions that affect your life more than anything.” This is a sentiment that was also shared by Evans. He said, “People will use social media to complain, but they’re not getting the message out. What our founders intended was for the local populace to be involved in our government to shape it.” Both of them discussed how they wanted to spread their message to the local community and how they felt a duty to do so.
Lessman also brought up the importance of local elections, such as in odd years when there were no federal elections. She said, “Voting for borough council, your voice carries a lot more weight, as people will skip those elections. What we need to do is encourage Dickinson students to vote in those local elections.” Evans brought up a point similar to this. He talked about not just wanting to see more college kids vote, but also for them to be more politically involved in the community. He said, “I would like to see student engagement. I’ve run into a few people from Dickinson College Republicans and I’d like to get a better understanding about what life is like at Dickinson.”
Despite being in differing political parties, both Lessman and Evans seemed to agree frequentlyon a lot in the separate interviews that were conducted. Both agreed about how their candidates have to get involved in the community to get elected on the local level. They both brought up how this engagement was better for the community as a whole. What Lessman had said was that “They [candidates] need to be at every YMCA kids day event, every raffle and they need to be visible in the community.” She wants to see the candidates be part of the community purely outside of their campaigns. A big point that Evans emphasized was that he felt people we as a community need to question those in power and make sure that they are working for themus. Not just on social media on a national level, but in person and on a local level: “You have to call out people even if they are in your party because if you rest on your laurels, then things fall apart.”
One of the most prominent things Evans said in his interview was a want for Americans to put our differences aside: “We are all Americans. We need to come together and empathize with people we don’t agree with.” He also brought up how students can learn from the older people in the community and he hopes that it can create a better future. “Students are young and can learn from older people. You can take that and shape a better understanding of where we came from the past, where we can go in the future and how we can bridge the divides we have,” he said.
Both interviews highlighted how accessible local politics are for someone who wants to get involved in them. Both Evans and Lessman are encouraging college students to get involved in the local parties as they both want to see the voices of college students within their organizations. While the importance of federal politics can not be understated, there is something to be said about the importance of local politics as well. They hope to see that same level of excitement be transferred to the local parties as well.
