On Monday night, the general body of the Cornell Republicans voted to endorse President Donald Trump for re-election.
The vote took place in two steps. First, members voted to generally issue endorsements as a club. Second, Trump was nominated for presidential re-election and members voted to confirm an endorsement. Both votes were by a simple majority of members present in the Zoom meeting.
Many members were happy with the decision. James Lepone ‘22, president of America First Cornell and a member of the Republicans, voted to endorse Trump and believed that it was “the obligation of the Cornell Republicans to endorse an incumbent Republican president.”
This was evidently the majority opinion. General body member Shiam Kannan ‘24 supported the decision and voted to endorse the president “on the basis that he was the best candidate in terms of the economy, law and order, and defending american culture and traditions from radicals and anarchists.”
Tyler Unrath ‘24, one of the two freshman representatives of the organization, was “thrilled by the Trump endorsement,” and believed that it was the time for Republicans to go on the offense. When asked if the endorsement would be divisive, Unrath stated it would not be, since the decision was made by a general body vote. “It was true democracy in action, and we all respect the majority decision,” he said.
The decision was not at a unanimous one, however. There were members who opposed endorsing Trump. Avery Bower ‘23, the vice president of internal operations, said that he “certainly wanted a different outcome.” However, Bower emphasized that it was important for the general body to be represented and to vocalize their opinion through endorsements.
The organization issued its endorsements without a statement. President Weston Barker ‘21 explained that this was because the endorsements were not the decision of the executive board. After the Cornell Daily Sun’s report, some members of the campus community questioned and ridiculed this decision.
Kannan thought that the Daily Sun misrepresented Barker’s words. “I felt that the Daily Sun’s article misrepresented President Barker’s words by implying that he had no good reason for the endorsement, when in fact what he meant was that since it was a Gbody discussion, there were various reasons, and it was not his place to summarize everyone’s beliefs in one statement.” He supported the decision of the executive board.
This decision stands in contrast to that of 2016, when the club endorsed Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson for president. All members who were involved in the endorsement have since graduated.
“I am excited that we are moving forward from the weak-minded 2016 endorsement,” Lepone said.
By the same process, the Cornell Republicans also moved to endorse all other Republican candidates on the Ithaca ballot. The club endorsed Tom Reed for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Thomas F. O’Mara for New York’s 58th Senate District, Matthew McIntyre for New York’s 125th Assembly District, and Brian D. Burns for the New York State Supreme Court, 6th Judicial District. The club also endorsed Claudia Tenney for New York’s 22nd Congressional District, the district east of Ithaca.
Bower pushed for endorsements at the state and local levels during the meeting. “ It’s our responsibility, unless there are serious reservations about local candidates, to promote the Republicans in our community too. Not just the president and GOP on a national level,” he said.
