This year’s election is contentious for many reasons, as people from all sides of the political spectrum are keeping a close watch on the presidential race’s outcome. This includes Hamline’s campus, where politics is currently a big topic of discussion. The political student organization Hamline Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is vocal about their thoughts and feelings on the general election.

YDSA Co-chair and junior Ethan Heide described this election as consequential.

“With so much at stake, you have a candidate who has basically explicitly said he wants to overturn all the democratic institutions of this country. Somebody who has the power to, you know, put in more Supreme Court justices that can just do so much irrevocable damage to this country, and we saw it in his 2016 turn with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.” Heide said.

While the organization has no specific plans surrounding the election due to the National Democratic Socialists of America organization not endorsing a candidate, they tend to focus on alternative forms of direct action, something many YDSA organizations do.

“The YDSA campuses, Macalester and U of M, they tend to do a lot with labor. They will do clothing drives, that’s something U of M YDSA has done a few times. There has been a lot of success for trans students, so there are YDSAs who have been able to make gender neutral bathrooms on campus, there are YDSAs that have fought for access to birth control and contraceptives on campus, something we at Hamline already pretty much have, so those weren’t fights we’d gotten in on because Hamline does pretty good on those things,” co-chair and senior Iris Eichinger said.

One thing in particular that the Hamline YDSA focuses on is political education. This includes teaching people about socialism, issues relevant to politics, general awareness and how it all ties to their lives. They also hosted a watch party for the vice presidential debate to encourage people to watch it.

Members of Hamline YDSA stressed the importance of voting, with this year’s stakes being high. However, they expressed that fear has been their biggest motivator to vote rather than enthusiasm, and they believe this is true for a lot of young voters.

“They’re not really excited, they’re scared of what might happen. If it’s motivation to vote, it’s motivation, even if it sucks and we hate it,” vice chair and sophomore Laura Hardy said.

A big factor in their lack of excitement in this year’s presidential election is due to dissatisfaction with both Democrats and Republicans.

“One of the big reasons why so many left-wing organizations have chosen to sit out of this election or go on to endorse third party candidates is because both the Democratic and the Republican parties are supporting really, really harmful policies. Like, you see what Joe Biden is doing right now in supporting the genocide in Gaza, and that really alienates a lot of voters,” said Heide.

Hamline YDSA members said that the outcome of this year’s election will absolutely impact what they do post-election.

Hardy stated that depending on the outcome the causes in which they focus on might change to better react to the political environment. The organization plans to have an event of some sort and noted how the outcome will impact that as well.

“The vibe of it will be very different, depending on where [the election results] go,” Eichinger said.

Something the Hamline YDSA wants everyone to be aware of is that politics is not just at the voting booth once every four years, but rather all the time.

“Voting is something that is very important and very powerful, and it is important to like, know what the consequences are and what the stakes are for each election, but if we don’t get people like, on the ground in between elections, then we’re not going to be able to stoke the change that we want to see in the world,” Heide said.

Another thing mentioned was that the presidential election is not the only race that matters.

“I wish that people got more involved in local politics because I feel like that’s really where democracy is actually done,” Eichinger said.

No matter the outcome, the Hamline YDSA expressed that there will be work that needs to be done.

“If the Democrats, and they take the house and the Senate and whatever, we’re still gonna be fighting for stuff,” Eichinger said. “There are so many choices that the government makes that we don’t get to vote on. We have to be informed about both versions, both sides.”