Party Officials Deliberate on Competition

On Monday, party meetings were held at the University Union and Dining Commons lawn. At the University Union, the Whigs allowed each candidate to orate a speech before eliminating people based on how loudly the audience yelled and how many people were rooting for the candidate until they had four left standing. They then sent these candidates each to a corner and asked citizens to go to the corner where the person they wanted to win stood. The party chair and party secretary, with help from counselors counting, then again eliminated candidates until only one was left. 

They then told the entire Whig party to vote for this one person, so everyone was unified on their vote. When it came to the position of governor, the same process was gone through, but when the Whig party was once again split nearly in half on their vote, the party chair and party secretary decided to let it remain that way. Supporting this decision alongside the Party Chair and Party Secretary were the two remaining candidates running for governor, Ella Mauer and Beauregard Chiasson. The leaders of the Whig party made this decision in hopes of being able to obtain a spot for both Whig candidates on the ballot when they learned the Federalist party wasn't eliminating anyone and was instead choosing from a pool of five candidates.

Joseph Warner, more famously known as Joe Mama, reflected on these events by stating that, “with the caucus system, they aren't able to run more than two candidates… everyone else doesn't have a chance,” meaning the Whig party wasn't having a “fair” election. He informs “we're [the Federalist party] all about ethically unity, this means we're giving everyone a chance to run” and continues to describe how his party creates a “goldilock zone” in which everyone is given a chance to run for an elected position “while still making sure there is a Federalist on the ballot.” 

The Federalist Party Secretary, Madelyn Trull, then goes on to deem the Whigs’ process “unequal,” while Joe Mama adds “chaotic” to the list when comparing their party to the Whigs. They justify their use of these words by explaining that the Whig Party isn't letting their candidates “run for themselves after it's already been decided” because they did “block voting” and if the candidate wasn't selected then, they “didn't have a chance [in the State Election].” Joe Mama and Madi believe that the Whigs' strategy was effective, but they also trust that “morals are on [their] side.” When trying to describe how the Federalists handled the Party meeting on Monday, Joe Mama clarified they were “facilitating the discussion towards a decision” and also were trying to prevent “mob rule” to “tak[e] the opinions of everybody regardless of what they believe in.” 

Lastly, they would like to note that they have moved on from everything that happened on Monday and are confident their Federalist Party candidates will win their state positions. As well, Joe Mama emphasizes that after elections, the Federalists hope to work bipartisanly manner on the top issues.