College Democrats, Republicans show no signs of slowing down

Though the elections have ended and the tide of students rushing off to battle for their parties has died down, it’s still business as usual for IU College Republicans and IU College Democrats.

“Everyone in the College Reps is feeling a lot more ready to work hard just because now we have to defend ourselves,” said Justin P. Hill, chairman of IU College Republicans. “I can see why when one party wins people could step down and relax, but that’s the exact opposite of our situation.”

IU College Democrats also plans to keep moving forward with its on-campus activities.

“Right now, we’re focusing on party-building activities and making sure we maintain membership,” said Anna Strand, president of IU College Democrats. “This is something the Obama campaign is going to continue across the nation. We’re also working on a lot of fundraising.”

Hill and his friends within the IU College Republicans are working for the years ahead. While he could not comment on his exact plans, he said his group has high aspirations.

“What we’re doing is set up a system so that, in two years and four years, the College Republicans can turn this campus red,” Hill said. “We’re going to use resources to get our message out.”

Besides building their party’s campaign, IU College Democrats is also planning a philanthropic event.

“We’re looking into some things right now,” Strand said. “As long as funding permits it, we would like to do something on a larger scale. We’re still gathering all of the information about the election, so there are still things going on.”

IU College Republicans recently had elections to appoint new positions within. While running for chairman of IU College Republicans, Hill ran under a platform of community service and leadership.

“We will be reaching out to the community,” Hill said. “We just really want to be service-oriented. We really want to reach out to the community and show people what College Republicans are all about.”

Despite the election being over, many of the new members of IU College Democrats who joined to help the campaign are staying on board for their party, Strand said.

Meanwhile, Hill and IU College Republicans plans to do more recruiting in the spring semester.

“We have people that are picking up new roles,” Hill said. “We are actually very excited and ready to see how we can define a party.”