GOFFSTOWN, NH – As Republican candidates in Tuesday’s New Hampshire Presidential Primary spent the last few hours before polls closed across the state, New Hampshire Republicans and some national guests gathered to discuss the future of their party.
Hosted by New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Chris Ager and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College was the scene for a roundtable on how improve Republican outreach to youth voters.
“We need to find a way to reach out to youth voters,” said McDaniel.
Ager and McDaniel were joined by U.S. Representatives Kat Commack (R-FL-03) and Mike Lawler (R-NY-17), co-chairs of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council as well as several young Republicans from New Hampshire and nearby states.
Members of the roundtable said that they received discrimination on college campuses for their beliefs in the past, with Commack stating she once was told by a professor that she would receive a failing grade on papers if her political ideology would not comply with those of the professor.
Saint Anselm College Republicans Chair Mac Connors did provide a contrasting view, stating that he found Saint Anselm College to be a tolerant place for differing political viewpoints. However, his view was in the minority.
“Our views are not really accepted on campus. When Hamas attacked Israel, we reached out to the College Democrats and see if they’d like to collaborate on a vigil for peace. They never reached out to us,” said Harrison Spalthoff, President of the New Hampshire College Republicans. “We did our vigil, it was a beautiful event and immediately afterward I was walking at night back to my dorm and I was getting harassed by a couple of students screaming at me, saying all sorts of nasty things to me.”
McDaniel and others like National College Republicans Chair Courtney Britt argued that in addition to more outreach toward younger voters, Republicans should also challenge Democrats regarding the topic of abortion and make their viewpoints heard.
“We want to get jobs that can pay as well enough to life comfortably and have the things that previous generations have had, but due to inflation, we can’t have that,” said Britt. “I think that’s one of the most important issues that we really need to let people know about right now, not let them get distracted by that by Bidenomics of what it’s calling, that’s obviously not working.”