The McCourt School of Public Policy hosted a bipartisan panel on Tuesday night discussing the 2014 midterm elections. The panel, moderated by Professor E.J. Dionne, featured Clinton administration advisor and Democratic strategist Paul Begala, Republican strategist Ava Navarro, and Politico senior political writer Maggie Haberman.
During the event in Gonda Theatre, the panel discussed key issues regarding the election, which resulted in major wins across the country for Republicans in congressional, gubernatorial, and local elections. The panelists all noted the low turnout by Democrat voters.
“On my side, there is real disappointment [in Barack Obama], which drove the collapse in turnout and some [voters] to switch,” Begala said during the panel.
The panelists also discussed the implications of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, upholding the right of political action committees to freely fund campaigns without government restriction.
Haberman commented on how negative campaign ads fueled by super PACs became a norm in this election. Georgetown alumnus Nick Troiano (COL ‘11, G ‘13) ran a campaign for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District that directly opposed those PACs, but lost after securing just 13 percent of the vote.
“I ran as an independent and citizen-funded candidate so that if I was elected I would be beholden only to the people, not the party bosses or special interest campaign contributors,” Troiano wrote in an email to the Voice. “Big money from narrow interest groups is corrupting our political process today, and I believe we need new leadership that is not dependent on these funders while in office.”
Troiano wrote his Master’s thesis on the underrepresentation of young people in Congress, and he noted the low turnout from this group as well.
“I was disappointed in the lower-than-desired student turnout at the polls,” Troiano wrote. “We still have a lot of work to do to meaningfully engage our generation in traditional politics in untraditional ways.”
Dionne further noted the implications of young voter apathy in this year’s midterm elections. “Students and young people generally had a big impact on the result by not voting,” Dionne wrote in an email to the Voice. “Young Americans are now a key Democratic constituency. Low turnout among the young helped Republicans win the election[s].”
Navarro claimed that the results of the election reveal America’s discontent with the Congressional gridlock and President Obama.
“People are just sick of the government in general,” Navarro said. “The guy in charge is Obama, and the the buck stops with him, so he has to pay the piper.”
She also noted that Democrats did not adequately address the attacks that Republicans made on President Obama leading up to the election. Criticizing his own party, Begala agreed with Navarro and stated that Obama’s failure to pass gun control legislation after the Newtown shooting showed Republicans’ strength.
Although the event focused mostly on the ramifications of this year’s midterm elections, panelists speculated on how the results would affect the presidential election in 2016 and provided perspective on both political parties.
“You have two parties trying to figure out where their soul is,” Haberman said. Navarro indicated that Jeb Bush’s decision of whether or not to run will be crucial for the Republican party, while Begala noted that if Hillary Clinton were to run for president, a strong competition during the Democratic primary would ultimately strengthen her campaign.
“I do think that Hillary is going to have to figure out if she is prepared for what a modern campaign looks like—it is so different from what it looked like seven years ago,” Haberman said.
According to the panel, however, voter turnout will still be the key factor in the 2016 election.
“Turnout in midterms is so different from turnout in Presidential elections that Republicans cannot assume their victory last Tuesday means all that much for 2016,” Dionne wrote. He also pointed out, however, that Democrats will need to regain the support of their voters in order to win on election day in 2016.
The results of the 2014 election show the impact of voter turnout and political participation from Georgetown students and alumni. The discussion during Tuesday’s Election Reflection: 2014 Midterms event will have real world implications in future elections for members of the Georgetown community, especially young adults.
Troiano hopes that 2016 will bring more young candidates running for office. “We need young blood, new ideas, and a fresh approach to revitalize our governing institutions,” he wrote. “I think our generation has the most to give if we do get involved, and also the most to lose if we don’t.”
Photo by Julian De La Paz
