TRUMP RETURNS TO POWER
By Spencer Friedland Managing Editor
Four years after he lost the 2020 presidential election, former President Donald Trump made an unprecedented political comeback and won the election to become the 47th president of the United States.
Defeating current Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump will be the second president to serve two nonconsecutive terms, following 22nd and 24th President Grover Cleveland.
According to The Associated Press, Trump secured 277 electoral votes for the win by 5:35 a.m., surpassing Harris by nearly 5 million votes. His victory follows the Republicans clinching control of the Senate during yesterday’s elections.
Harris had not publicly conceded by press time at 6:30 a.m.
Trump supporter Juan Llano (25C) said that Trump’s victory signals to the Democratic Party not to “demonize” segments of the American electorate.
Emory College Republicans
President Si Kai Feng (28C) said that he hopes a Trump presidency will improve inflation, quality of life and illegal immigration. Additionally, Feng hopes the next four years will bring decreased polarization in the United States.
“My biggest hope under Trump presidency is that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party can come together,” Feng said.
Llano said that Democrats should stop “obsessing” over issues such as abortion and stop calling Republicans “racist,” “misogynist” and “transphobic.” He added that Trump’s election
shows that Americans want to return to “traditional values.”
While some students cheered for Trump’s victory, others are scared.
“It seems like in the end, the racist, sexist bigot is going to win again,”
Young Democrats of Emory member Olivia Young (26C) said during an interview with The Emory Wheel just after midnight “It’s really scary to think about all the people in my life that this is going to impact so strongly.”
Young said Harris fell behind
President Joe Biden’s 2020 performance because she is a Black woman.
“Are Americans more likely to vote for a white man? Yeah,” Young said. “That is a terrible reality, but it is the reality.”
Young said this election leaves her feeling “hopeless.”
Ibrahim Jouja (22Ox, 25B) voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to her pledge to stop “the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.” Jouja characterized his decision to vote for Stein as strategic. As
a Kentucky resident, Jouja said he believed the state will always be red.
Although Jouja does not approve of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the conflict in the Middle East, he said that he was hoping Harris would win. He called Trump’s win “disheartening,” adding that his presidency will be bad for Palestinians.
“Netanyahu wants Trump to win because Trump will support him and give him the agency to do whatever he wants,” Jouja said.
On his path to victory, Trump won key swing states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, with the former setting up Trump’s victory. He then sealed his return to the White House when news outlets across the country declared the former president the winner in Wisconsin early this morning.
Trump declared victory in an early morning campaign speech, calling for unity going forward. He also claimed the American people delivered a mandate for him to govern.
“This will truly be the golden age of America,” Trump said.
This election cycle changed course when a poor debate performance on June 27 led voters to question Biden’s ability to serve as president. Biden dropped out of the race for re-election on July 21, conceding his spot on the ballot to Harris.
According to an NBC News poll released on Sept. 17, Harris led Trump by six points nationally. Despite Harris initially leading in the polls, Trump and Harris had been neck-and-neck the past few weeks.
In his win, Trump improved his popularity among Jewish, Hispanic and Black voters significantly since the 2020 election. Ann and Michael Hankin Distinguished Professor of Political Science Bernard Fraga said that Trump improved upon his 2020 performance due to Americans’ dissatisfaction with the Biden-Harris administration and their handling of the economy.
Despite her loss, Fraga said that Harris gained considerable ground after Biden stepped down as the Democratic nominee.
By Hilary BarKey Science & Research Desk
For every $10 Emory University faculty and staff donated to Republicanbacked political organizations during the 2024 campaign, they gave over $530 to Democrats.
Since the beginning of 2023, Emory employees have donated $1.65 million to political entities through 17,547 individual contributions. The predominantly left-leaning faculty and staff donors gave $1.56 million to Democratic candidates, $60,165.04 to non-affiliated and third-party political action committees (PACs) and $29,386.75 to Republican candidates.
Faculty and staff also donated 13,129 times to Democratic PAC ActBlue, amounting to $316,445.80, and made 263 contributions totaling $8,651.85 to WinRed, a Republican Partyendorsed PAC.
Since Biden’s July 21 announcement that he would not seek presidential re-election, Emory faculty and staff made 882 separate contributions
to presidential campaigns, totaling $124,410.87. 865 of those donations, totaling $122,220.13, went to the Harris for President campaign. Since the start of 2023, there have been 1,220 donations to presidential candidates totaling $173,637.58. Of those, 1,140 separate contributions amounting to $162,163.68 were for Harris/ Biden for President.
Overall, 93.4% of the money donated to presidential campaigns in the last 22 months by Emory faculty and staff has been for the Democratic ticket.
Matthew Bernstein, Goodrich C. White professor and interim chair of film and media, is a regular donor to political organizations. Through 611 contributions, Bernstein has donated over $3 million to various PACs and candidates during his time at Emory. All of his donations are in support of Democratic candidates.
When asked why he donated to the Harris campaign this election cycle, Bernstein commented that he has
By Siya Kumar and GaBriella ZaruBinSKy Staff Writer & Contributing Writer
Pennsylvania citizens waited for si x hours to vote. Over 2,000 miles away in Arizona, a line of 300 voters stretched nearly a quarter of a mile. However, when students, faculty and locals showed up to Emory University’s 1599 Clifton Road polling site to vote in the presidential election on Nov. 5, they did not have to wait to cast their ballots.
Claudia Vargas-Ramirez (25C) said this election could affect many issues important to her and other women. As a Puerto Rican, she said she felt the need to voice her opinion because many in her community are not able to.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke at a campaign rally for U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump on Oct. 28 at Madison Square Garden, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” Since then, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has
condemned Hinchcliffe, calling the comedian a “jack-wad.”
For many Emory students, this was the first presidential election in which they were able to vote. The race was deadlocked on Election Day, with the final NBC News poll showing that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump were tied with identical support at 49%.
Nicholas Wong (26C) and Avik Sinha (26C) said that their first time voting in a general election was “very smooth.” Wong said he was uninterested in politics, and Sinha men-
tioned that he was “apprehensive” about this election.
Alex Greenberg (28C) said it felt like his civic duty to vote in the presidential election. As a New Jersey native, he registered to vote in Georgia because he thought his vote had “more impact” here. Greenberg was not alone in this decision — many out-of-state students voted in Georgia, which was a swing state in the election. An Oct. 23 poll from The Emory Wheel showed that 75% of the 100 respondents registered in
Former President Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th president of the United States.
Republicans win presidency with key victory in Georgia, swing states
“This is a story about Harris trying to make up ground that was already lost at the tail end of the Biden administration,” Fraga said.
Many conservatives have criticized Harris for seemingly circumventing the standard primary process, as Democrats voted for Biden in the Democratic primary. Additionally,
many have criticized Harris for changing her positions on many issues since her unsuccessful run for president in 2020, with Trump joking on The Joe Rogan Experience pod-
Over 90% of employee donations go to Democrats
Continued from Page 1
been a lifelong Democrat and agrees with Harris’ platform.
“My values align with the Democratic Party, so it’s natural for me to support them however I can,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein also mentioned that he believes in the importance of elections and that donations are one way to show support for a candidate or political party.
“Elections have consequences, as we have seen,” Bernstein said.
During 2023 and 2024, there were also seven individual faculty donations to the Jill Stein for President
2024 campaign. Two of these donations came from Dr. Marwan Kazimi, assistant professor of surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine and surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program at the Emory Transplant Center.
Kazimi said that he has mostly voted for Democrats throughout his life, but the war in Gaza steered him away from the party. He said there was “almost a sense of dread” having to vote for former U.S. President Donald Trump or Harris based on their stances regarding the conflict in the Middle East.
“Jill Stein was the only candi-
cast on Sept. 25 that he should send her a MAGA hat.
Harris may have been affected by pro-Palestine Americans who endorsed Stein and Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate Claudia De la Cruz. Both candidates garnered support from this demographic due to their pro-Palestinian stances. Stein received 610,955 votes (0.4%), including 18,095 votes (0.3%) in Georgia.
Michigan, where Trump led Harris by two percentage points in an uncalled race as of 6:08 a.m., was a particular focus of the “uncommitted” movement, which formed in response to the Israel-Hamas war. The movement did not endorse Harris but did urge its followers to vote against Trump. Third-party candidates in the state received 2.0% of the vote in Michigan.
Despite winning the presidency, Trump has significant divisions within his party. Prominent Republicans and former members of his administration have spoken out against him, including former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Vice President Dick Cheney. Additionally, over half the country has an unfavorable view of Trump, according to a Nov. 4 FiveThirtyEight poll.
date who really had some degree of national exposure and also was willing to go out and courageously argue against the disruption and support the belief that Palestinians are a people and a country that should have some degree of self-determination,” Kazimi said.
Kazimi said his goal in donating to Stein was not necessarily to propel her to a victory but rather to underscore the importance of having more than two candidates to choose from in national elections.
“It’s important that those who have important ideas are not muted, are allowed platforms, and some of that requires monetary support,” Kazimi said.
Kazimi also mentioned a personal connection to Stein, as he worked with her husband Dr. Richard Rohrer for five years during his residency and met Stein herself.
Raymond Schinazi, professor of the department of pediatrics at the medical school, was one of two faculty and staff members to contribute to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign during this election cycle. In an email to The Emory Wheel, Schinazi wrote that a personal friendship with Ramaswamy led him to support the former Republican Party presidential candidate.
Other donations from Emory faculty and staff in 2023 and 2024 include five donations to Cornel West’s campaign, 53 donations to Trump’s campaign, one donation to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, 10 donations to Nikki Haley’s campaign, one donation to Rep. Dean Phillips’ campaign (D-Minn.) and one donation to Cenk Uygur’s campaign.
Non-Harris contributions make up only 6.5% of the total monetary donations for the past 22 months. Faculty and staff who donated to Trump’s campaign declined requests to comment.
Niko Sample-Kietrys (25Ox) contributed to reporting.
— Contact Hilary Barkey at hilary.barkey@emory.edu
Additionally, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) endorsed and campaigned with Harris, calling her “somebody you can trust.”
Both Trump and Harris attempted to win Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes. Harris visited Atlanta on Oct. 19 and held an event with former President Barack Obama on Oct. 24. Trump came to Georgia on Oct. 23 and Oct. 28. The Associated Press declared Trump the winner in the state at 12:58 a.m. This marks a return for Georgia as a reliably Republican state in every election since 1996 after Biden flipped the state blue in 2020.
However, a poll conducted by the Wheel showed that the Emory University community overwhelmingly supported Harris, with 83% of the 100 respondents stating they would vote for the vice president. The top priorities for respondents included abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the economy.
“It's time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump said in a speech declaring victory. “It's time to unite.”
— Contact Spencer Friedland at spencer.friedland@emory.edu
Continued from Page 1
Chau a nh nGuyen/staff illustrator
Trump is on track to win seven battleground states he lost in the 2020 presidential election.
Emory community, Georgians gather for presidential election watch parties
by JaCob musColino, kyle Chen, irene John and Catherine nan Staff Writers & Contributing Writers
Anxious Georgians gathered together on Nov. 5 to watch the 2024 election unfold. Emory University held watch parties at Harland Cinema and at Oxford College and the Oxford Votes Initiative and Oxford Young Democrats hosted separate watch parties in the Phi Gamma Hall and the Oxford Student Center Greer Forum, respectively. The Georgia Democratic and Republican Parties hosted watch parties attended by legislators, political operatives and foreign leaders. The Emory Wheel reported from watch parties across the state during the first hours after polls closed and before former U.S. President Donald Trump’s victory in the election.
6 p.m. “I wanted to be a part of history,” said Giselle Rodriguez, proudly pointing to her bright purple “Harris 2024” T-shirt. “And I want to watch history happen.”
With a mixture of anticipation and excitement, Democratic Georgia residents gathered at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta on the night of Nov. 5 for an election watch party. Supporters of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waited patiently for results from key states that had the power to shape the future of the country.
Republican Georgia residents gathered at Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead for a separate election watch
party. Before 7 p.m., two large TV screens had already begun broadcasting Fox News. Guests excitedly discussed the election, and the media began to cover the newest updates with a row of cameras, microphones and bright lights.
Legislators from Germany were present at the watch party, including Bremen Parliament President Antje Grotheer. She said she was paying attention to the election because of its economic effects on Germany.
Beyond the economy, Grotheer stated that Trump’s proposed approach to the war in Ukraine concerns Germany.
“Donald Trump already told people that he would solve this problem within 24 hours, which, from our point of view, is not possible,” Grotheer said. “If he rejects the financial support and the military support for Ukraine, then it would mean that other NATO partners would have to support them even more.”
At Emory, the department of political science and the Emory Votes Initiative (EVI) hosted an election watch party in the Harland Cinema, where Emory students watched CNN with a mix of apprehension and excitement. Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science and Director of Experiential Learning Matthew Baker moderated and held the event.
Baker said he was excited to see students come together.
“It is very exciting,” Baker said. “It's a great environment. I'm excited for the students. Many of them voted in the first election this cycle, and to be
From the Archives: Election night 2020
By anjali HuynH Former Executive Editor
This article previously ran in The Emory Wheel's print edition on Nov. 4, 2020.
While final results from many states will likely not be solidified for days due to large numbers of uncounted mail-in ballots, news outlets indicated early Wednesday morning that key swing states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania will be pivotal in determining the winner.
“We believe we’re on track to win this election,” former Vice President and Democratic challenger Joe Biden told supporters from Wilmington, Del. around 12:30 a.m. “It ain’t over till every vote is counted.” Biden stated he would not declare victory preemptively, saying, “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to determine who won.” Minutes after Biden addressed his supporters, President Donald J. Trump tweeted, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” Trump spoke from the White House
The
around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. He falsely claimed a “very sad group of people,” referring to Democrats, was “trying to disenfranchise” voters.
Lauding his campaign’s successes in Florida, Texas and Ohio, all of which are projected to go for Trump, Trump said, “We’re getting ready for a big celebration. … The results tonight have been phenomenal.”
Major news networks projected that Trump will win Florida, which has 29 electoral votes, past midnight. FiveThirtyEight reported Trump had “made gains” with Hispanic voters ahead of the election, which showed in Florida’s Miami-Dade county, where Trump won over Cuban-Americans, per NBC News exit polls.
In Georgia, a pipe burst in a room of ballots at State Farm Arena in Fulton County on Tuesday morning, causing delays in the state’s results. Though the pipe burst did not damage any ballots, the predominantly democratic county halted counting ballots at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night with plans to resume in the morning.
By Wednesday at 3 a.m., Trump led in Georgia at 50.5% compared to Biden at 48.3%, with 94% of votes reported from the Associated Press.
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Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the fnancially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.
The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily refect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staf or administration. The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.
able to come together and watch the results pour in is just really fun.”
At 6:30 p.m., Assistant Director of Civic Engagement and EVI Tereza Lewis asked the audience to raise their hands if it was their first time voting, and the majority of the roughly 80 attendees did.
7 p.m. At Oxford College, Luka Undilashvili (26Ox), experienced his first U.S. election. Undilashvili, an international student at Oxford, said it was important for students to express their democratic voice.
“If you participate in society, you should also be concerned about society,” Undilashvili said. “One way to do that is to express your democratic values and vote because that’s the perfect ideal that democracy has, that everyone has a voice.”
Back at Harland Cinema, Spencer Jack (28C) expressed her enthusiasm “to see a first Black female president.”
Juan Llano (25C) entered Harland Cinema adorned in a Trump shirt and MAGA hat. He said he knew the attire would draw different reactions, but he has found Emory to be overall receptive, even if it is a largely left-leaning campus.
Llano criticized “identity politics,” stating he used to frame politics around his Hispanic heritage but eventually shifted more toward individualism.
As Aviva Heselton (28C) watched her home state of Ohio teeter between red and blue, she discussed Trump’s remarks about migrants in Springfield and his pick of Ohio Republican Sen.
J.D. Vance as fuel for criticism.
“Automatically just saying you're from Ohio, people pretty much think that you have some connection to Trump or Vance or you might be voting Republican.” Heselton stated.
8 p.m. At the Georgia Republican watch party, political consultant Derrick Dickey said that early voting had gone well for Republicans. As someone who worked closely with the Republican Party this election, Dickey provided insights about the efforts made to increase voter turnout.
“There’s been a renewed effort to try to bank as many votes early, both the absentee ballots for Republicans and early in-person voting,” Dickey said. “In previous election cycles, we've gone into Election Day behind. It feels good that it looks like, based on the data, that [with] all that early voting, we actually have an advantage coming into Election Day.”
At the Democratic watch party, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) took the stage and highlighted the efforts of Georgian Democrats who mobilized to vote for Harris.
Williams emphasized the importance of electing Democrats into the Oval Office and Congress while admonishing Trump’s last term, citing it as a time of “darkness and division.” She reminded the audience to be patient as the night went on.
“We’ve taken nothing for granted and fought for every single moment,” Williams said. “But most of all, we have made our voices heard. Georgia, we showed up like never before to the
polls because we know the power of our voices, and we are ready for a new way forward.”
9 p.m. Around 9:30 p.m., cheers rang out from Oxford students as results for Newton County, where Oxford resides, came in. Harris pulled ahead by 9,000 votes at 57% to 42% compared to the previous presidential election year’s 55% to 44%.
Oxford Young Democrats President Mia Burshteyn (25Ox) said she is happy with the turnout of the Oxford Young Democrats watch party and talked about the organization’s efforts in Newton County.
“It’s been interesting to see how Georgia’s playing out, especially because Ox Dems have been canvassing in Newton County, and so now, we’re seeing a stronger blue presence in Newton County, which is exciting but obviously worrisome for the rest of Georgia,” Burshteyn said.
As the night progressed, loud cheers filled the Georgia Democratic watch party when states like New Hampshire and New York were called for the Democrats. When Democrat Angela Alsobrooks won her Senate race, making history as the first Black woman to represent Maryland, the crowd erupted, with many attendees clapping and hugging.
— Contact Jacob Muscolino at Jacob.Muscolino@emory.edu, Kyle Chen at kyle.chen@emory.edu, Irene John at Irene.johm@emory. edu and Catherine Nan at catherine.nan@emory.edu
Students report short wait times at Emory poll
Continued from Page 1
Georgia, whereas 23% registered to vote in another state.
Audrey Zhang (28C) originally hails from Maricopa County in Arizona but decided to vote in Georgia despite both being swing states. As a left-leaning voter, she said her impact in Georgia was more influential than in Arizona. Zhang said she would be keeping up with Tuesday’s election coverage. When asked about her nerves going into the election, she said she had already done her part and that there was no looking back.
Despite many citing ease with casting their ballots, some voters had trouble due to issues with their voter registration. Michelle Lu (28C) said poll workers told her that her address was entered incorrectly. While she was still able to vote, she said the process was “slow.” Lu had registered through the Emory Votes Initiative (EVI).
Earlier this fall, EVI encountered a discrepancy with voting registration
instructions after advising hundreds of students to use their Emory mailing address instead of their residential address when registering to vote. Georgia’s voter registration application has separate sections for residential and mailing addresses. After finding out about the issue, EVI began advising students to register using their dorm address. Young Democrats of Emory and Fair Fight U Emory encouraged students to submit new applications using their residential addresses.
Before Election Day, over half of registered Georgia voters cast their ballots early at polling sites or through absentee ballots. Election officials cited concerns about delayed results in the state due to hand-counting paper ballots after polls closed at 7 p.m. on Election Day. The Georgia State Election Board approved a new rule on Sept. 20 that required three poll workers to count ballots in piles of 50 until all three counts were the same. The Board approved the rule
despite the advice of the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office and an association of county election officials. However, Judge Robert McBurney ultimately struck down the hand-counting rule because of concerns that the rule was added too close to the elections.
On the CBS news program Face the Nation, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R-Ga.) addressed the attempted law change.
“As it relates to the state election board rules, I never supported any of those,” Raffensperger said. “I was very vocal about on day one, and they were ruled unconstitutional. They were shut down.”
The Associated Press called that Trump won Georgia with 50.8% of the state’s votes in the early morning of Nov. 6.
— Contact Siya Kumar at siya.kumar@emory.edu and Gabriella Zarubinsky at gabriella.zarubinsky@emory.edu
JaCk rutherford/neWs editor
This year marked the first presidential election at Emory University's 1599
The Emory Wheel
EDITORIAL
In wake of brutal Trump victory, fnd dignity in community
Following a tense campaign season, former President Donald Trump now leads in Electoral College votes, projecting his win as the next president of the United States. Trump won swing states North Carolina and Georgia early on the morning of Nov. 6, invoking Democrats’ worst anxieties about a second Trump administration. While it is grim to confront the daunting premise of Trump’s second ascent to power on Jan. 20, 2025, supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign must redirect their civic engagement to protecting America’s most vulnerable communities — Black and Hispanic Americans, undocumented immigrants and queer people — to avoid the worst possibilities of Trump’s second shot at the presidency.
Trump’s predicted victory marks a frightening step backward from the progress of President Joe Biden’s administration and gives Trump’s xenophobic and hostile campaign the legitimacy and the platform of the executive branch. We cannot allow this vitriol to define us or the steps we will take as a nation in the wake of this reckoning. What we do know is that a second Trump term looms ahead, and we must fight against the impacts his policies will have on the United States’ most vulnerable populations.
Just last week, Trump made incendiary remarks about transgender rights at a campaign event, the latest of a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from his previous administration and current campaign. He has consistently maintained his intention to “define ‘transgender’ out of existence” by reversing Biden’s policy to protect transgender people under Title IX. Trump’s second term would enact his hateful rhetoric: With his intention to remove protections in diverse spaces like employment, housing, education and healthcare for LGBTQ+ communities, Trump has made it painfully clear that he has no qualms with
deporting undocumented immigrants. If the policies he has advocated for are implemented, millions of people will be threatened with deportation.
Trump also expressed plans to call local police officers to carry out mass deportations for immigrants residing in the United States, and even suggested deploying the National Guard in a massive campaign against undocumented individuals. This is
future of millions of families hangs in the balance. Their survival depends on the whims of politicians who seem to have forgotten that immigration is not just a political issue but also a human rights one. It is up to communities across the U.S., marginalized and not, to remember collective humanity and act upon it faithfully.
Do not overlook the more than 3.5 million people who live in U.S. territories, either — Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. Despite the fact that most residents are citizens and many have family in the continental United States and all pay federal taxes, those living in these territories lack representation in presidential elections. The limitations on Puerto Rican self-governance have only grown starker, with recent incidents reigniting residents’ frustrations about their disenfranchisement.
At a Trump rally, comedian Tony
Hinchcliffe’s derogatory remarks describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” stirred
tinental United States. This disdain for Hinchcliffe’s comments echoes longheld resentment over Puerto Ricans’ treatment as second-class citizens in a nation that touts equality.
Furthermore, throughout the election, the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip was a contentious topic for both candidates.
ies of Dearborn and Detroit, where there are large Arab-American communities. Many Arab-Americans and Muslims have pushed for Harris to strongly condemn Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and to cease providing military support, but Harris’ intentions to maintain friendly relations with Israel did not waver.
While it may be tempting to prefer Trump’s promises to end the conflict, we must not disregard his reputation for xenophobia and foreign policy isolationism.
“Movements are hardly ever substantiated by politicians — they are put into effect by people,” The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board wrote in response to former State Rep. Stacey Abrams’ (D-84) loss to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) in 2022. Today, as we face a potential second Trump presidency and a majority-red Georgia, we echo this sentiment.
No Biden, Harris or Trump administration will or can do what our communities can: Advocate for and uplift populations that are consistently marginalized. Although this obstacle may slow down our momentum, do not let it halt us.
The occupation of political offices may be temporary, but your civic engagement is not — it must become the impetus of our present moment. Despite his implications about suppression of speech, Trump cannot stifle your voice from his seat in the White House.
Trump’s pledges to end the war in the Middle East “no matter what” are equally as chilling as Biden’s complacency. The Israel-Hamas war has been particularly divisive in swing states like Michigan, especially in the cit-
The only way to protect it is to keep using it. Communities like Palestinian Americans, Puerto Ricans, LGBTQ+ people and many more populations may experience the same disregard and policy outcomes under both Harris and Trump — and that can only be palliated by centering these groups and their collective struggle in our community building.
We cannot let frustration consume us as we enter this new era in politics.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Editor Marc Goedmans, Carly Aikens, Hunter Buchheit, Allie Guo, Ethan Jacobs, Carson Kindred, Justin Leach, Eliana Liporace, Niki Rajani, Josh Rosenblut, Ilka Tona and Crystal Zhang.
Chau a hn nguyen/staff illustrator
Emory, think beyond the polls in 2024 election
By eMory coMMUnity
In the months before the culmination of the battle between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, who is poised to win as of print time, The Emory Wheel’s Opinion editors asked members of the Emory University community to share their opinions on various topics related to the 2024 United States presidential election. The opinion team worked with eight individuals — seven students and one faculty member — to provide written statements on their perspectives on the election. The images corresponding with this project do not reflect the physical appearances of those who participated in the project but rather the diverse makeup of Emory’s campus. Illlustrations by Staff Illustrators Gina Nebrig and Sasha Emmerich.
Civic engagement at Emory
I do hear students talking about the election, and I think Emory students and faculty are civically involved. So many of the faculty at Emory put their money where their mouth is — they volunteer, get involved in activist campaigns, teach students about what is at stake and, in their research, advocate for a more fair and just world. I have held faculty positions at four other institutions and have never known a faculty this devoted and involved.
— Dr. Michelle M. Wright, Emory College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of English
I don’t think Emory is as civically involved as it should be. A lot of my friends vary between caring and not caring about the election. I also think more professors should cancel class on Election Day, Nov. 5, to encourage people to vote, even if canceling class comes at the last second. Even then, it is in my opinion that it is the University’s responsibility to give students and faculty election day off. I have had only one professor do that so far, but I appreciate it. I will take this opportunity to say that everyone should vote, especially if they are a part of a historically marginalized community.
— Wendy Pelayo (26C)
The worst part of the election
The worst thing about this election is the mindset that “both candidates are bad — therefore I’m not voting.” This level of disengagement is not just disheartening, it is dangerous. It is true that political discourse has become increasingly negative, in which attacks on character often overshadow substantive policy discussions. The shift from aspirational leadership, like when former First Lady Michelle Obama said, “when they go low, we go high,” to the
cutthroat “when they go low, we go lower” mentality is reflective of how polarized and toxic our political environment has become. However, refusing to vote because of dissatisfaction with both candidates misses the bigger picture: It ignores the very real consequences of inaction.
This protest by abstention not only fails to improve the situation but also indirectly enables the very forces people claim to oppose. In a time when the future of crucial issues hangs in the balance, sitting on the sidelines because of disillusionment is not just a missed opportunity. It is an abdication of responsibility, and it is harmful to those who depend on our collective voices, especially the marginalized communities most impacted by these policies. The reality is, politics is rarely perfect, and no candidate is without flaws. But some choices have far greater implications for the future of our democracy, civil rights and social progress. Silence and apathy only serve to perpetuate the status quo, and in this election, the stakes are simply too high for that.
— Katie Oshins (25C)
I wish we could all come together regardless of which candidate wins, without protest or anger, and accept the results of the election. We must have respect for the democratic process, and the lack of unity is perhaps the greatest loss.
— Josh Rosenblut (26B)
Although I believe the U. S. democracy is at risk of further erosion, I do not think the upcoming election will spell its demise. Fortunately, American democracy has proven resilient, thanks to its constituency’s civic participation and demonstrations. Regardless, it is true that a second Trump presidency would further erode democracy, and it is salient that we do not discover the disturbing reality of what that might entail.
The Electoral College is an outdated system created when our nation’s leaders did not trust the population to be smart enough to vote for an appropriate candidate. We have the technol-
ogy and infrastructure to facilitate a popular vote, so we should overhaul the Electoral College for a more representative method.
Political polarization is the highest it has been in the past 50 years, and the U.S. continues to polarize faster than other democracies. This trend is unfortunate, primarily as it manifests into a gridlocked and unproductive Congress.
— Angel Sosa (26C)
The policies on their minds
Overall, redistributing the nation’s wealth is a large motivator in my political opinion because I believe lowerincome communities are often disposed of and taken advantage of during and outside of election seasons. This is why I am reluctantly supporting Harris: Politicians will leverage their supposed relatability to appeal to the working class, get votes and maybe carry out beneficial policy. There are also a plethora of other issues I could mention, such as abortion rights, immigration and climate, but generally, I support the most progressive candidate.
— Wendy Pelayo (26C)
Their candidate preferences
I prefer that Harris win the presidential election because she aligns best with my politics. Ideally, I prefer candidates like Claudia De La Cruz and Karina Garcia, the presidential and vice presidential candidates for the U.S. Party for Socialism and Liberation, because they fight for the immediate needs of poor and working-class people. They also center multinational and multiethnic perspectives rather than silence and criminalize them.
— Wendy Pelayo (26C)
The Biden-Harris administration, while far from perfect, has been historic and has resulted in incredible strides for the economy, employment, healthcare and countless other issues that prove to be the most important to Americans as shown by recent polls. In voting for Harris, I am also voting for her cabinet, her (potential) U.S. Supreme Court picks, her district judges and her picks for the heads of independent agencies and commissions. The Trump administration’s haphazard approach to taxation depressed the economy, an effect that was only exacerbated by his COVID-19 response. It goes without saying that his reaction to the pandemic also resulted in the loss of countless lives in a way that will forever mark American history. His policies have failed Americans as he attempted to repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protection, and those seeking a path to citizenship also saw more difficulties as a result of his administration’s creation of the first ever path for new citizens to become denatural-
ized. Trump also failed to deliver on key campaign promises to those who supported him — for example, though I do not support the construction of a border wall, even those that do cannot deny the absolute lack of progress on this issue. Trump is not focused on fortifying key American institutions — he is focused on gutting and stifling them in a way that should alarm everyone. For those considering voting for a thirdparty candidate in a swing state like Georgia, the Swap Your Vote project allows for you to swap your vote with two blue state voters who will vote third party in your place. Until we can escape the two-party system, Harris is the only clear choice.
— Dani Parra del Riego Valencia (25B)
I would say that I am mostly satisfied with presidential candidate Jill Stein’s platform. I do not think it is the most realistic, but that is the case with most political platforms. I am most proud of her commitment to end U.S. military aid to Israel until it complies with international law.
There is a big misconception that those of us who are criticizing Harris for her complicity in Israel’s war crimes and thus voting third party are somehow Trump supporters, which is frankly absurd. Third-party supporters are well aware of the danger of Trump and how he is the same if not worse when it comes to policy in Palestine. However, genocide is a moral line that we will not cross or endorse with our vote.
Many seem to forget that Harris is part of the administration that has actively funded Israel’s war crimes over the past year and has not indicated that she would do anything differently in the next four years. I will not tell anyone how to vote or criticize those who vote for her. I believe that if you do vote for Harris and care about Palestine, however, you should be doing your part in pressuring her to do better, whether that’s through calls, petitions or showing up to protests.
I wish we could come together regardless of which candidate wins, without protest or anger, and accept the election results. We must have respect for the democratic process, and the lack of unity is perhaps the greatest loss. As a proud Jew, my background deeply informs my political views, and while some claim that Harris lacks support for Jewish policies, I disagree. I will be voting for her with confidence, rooted in both my values and identity.
— Josh Rosenblut (26B)
Trump is an existential threat to the survival of the U.S. and its place as a global hegemon and defender of the rules-based international order which we have expended innumerable American lives and resources to establish and defend. Trump intends to hand over the hard-fought political, diplomatic, economic, ideological and national winnings over to our despised foreign adversaries. He is nothing more than a spineless, amorphous blob of unbridled self-interest, a draft-dodging coward who has never stood up for anything in his life but the almighty dollar.
Harris has given me no particular reason to be endeared to her, rather the opposite. However, I can at least trust that she has been a longstanding public servant whose policy objectives, while lacking vision and largely shortsighted, do not include handing over the United States and our international allies to barbaric and bloodthirsty dictators hellbent on the annihilation of all we hold dear. For those reasons, I will be voting for her. I do so not as a matter of any particular regard for Harris or her vigorless, pallid and visionless party of debasement and resentment, but as a matter of national survival and relevance on an international stage.
— Jerry Mon Père (24Ox, 26C)
In a divisive election cycle, the Opinion section is proud to showcase the diverse voices of campus community members. In publishing this project, we seek to amplify student perspectives and bring together individuals from across the political spectrum. Through exchanging ideas, we hope to foster a platform for respectful discourse.
— Ibrahim Jouja (25B)
Democrats, abort the sensationalist pro-choice rhetoric
By seLena teng ContriButing Writer
Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.
The Democratic Party is having a feminist field day. During her 2024 campaign for president, Vice President Kamala Harris was backed by a disproportionate percentage of women due to the importance of reproductive rights as a decisive policy issue. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who is poised to win the election at print time, fumbled through the issue during his campaign, searching for ways to escape his misogynistic reputation.
As a staunch supporter of abortion rights, I cheered alongside my peers for a Harris presidency, drawing political chalkings outside the dining hall and spam texting my friends encouraging them to vote. Nevertheless, the Democrats’ framing of their pro-choice platform leaves a sour taste in my mouth: For all the emphasis Democrats place on medical emergency cases, laws affecting in vitro fertilization (IVF) and exceptions for rape and incest, they have replaced the core issue of bodily autonomy with an appeal to conservative purity culture.
This ideology preserves traditional gender roles under the guise of protection for women’s feminity and innocence. Instead, Democrats should recenter bodily autonomy to unconditionally value women’s rights, which will continue to be threatened in local politics regardless of the election’s outcome.
Referred to as edge cases, more shocking abortion circumstances are more commonly featured in abortion rhetoric than others. Harris’ cam-
paign has prioritized edge cases of abortion needs in their pro-choice messaging, from an unsettling ad featuring a survivor of childhood rape to Harris’s repeated mentions of Amber Thurman’s death due to a restrictive Georgia abortion law. These individuals have undeniably been endangered and victimized by anti-abortion legislation, and their stories demonstrate the tremendous scope of lives affected by the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which stated that abortion is not protected under the Constitution. Despite the severity and memorability of these cases, however, such circumstances constitute only a few abortions.
The predominant reasons for abortion are personal ones: lack of financial preparation for a child, unsuitable timing — such as age and life stage — and partner-related issues. Campaign narratives avoid ordinary abortion stories because they are marked as unpalatable for election ads and not extreme enough to convince voters.
Although abortion edge cases deserve attention and can be rhetorically strategic, they play into the sexist idea that some people are more deserving of abortions than others. Pro-choice commercials present child-loving mothers who were forced to seek abortions for medical reasons and became tragically infertile from lack of treatment.
They don’t typically describe young women who had a condom break during a tipsy one-night stand — these women would be labeled as careless, slutty and sinful, instead of unlucky or victimized. Edge cases masquerade in the shape of purity culture, valuing women who tick the checkboxes of a traditional evangelical sexual ethic — abstinence, meekness, innocence and contrition.
Women who step out of line risk losing their femininity, and by extension, their humanity.
Americans can easily condemn the foreign extremities of purity culture, such as Afghanistan’s new law prohibiting women from singing and reading aloud in public due to the supposedly intimate quality of female voices.
The Taliban’s defense for this oppressive law is grounded in women’s safety — laughable, yet oddly similar to obsessions with sexual purity echoed in the American consciousness.
Memes about rifle-wielding fathers threatening their daughters’ boyfriends can be laughed off as an overdramatic but well-intentioned attempt to defend young women. However, it also hints at the outdated conception of young women as their father’s property and chastity as their measure of value.
Further, prospective mothers and couples using IVF fit nicely into purity culture’s image of a married woman — family-focused and child-rearing — which incentivizes Democrats to use their likeness in campaign ads.
Victims of rape and incest, who have no agency over assaults or resulting pregnancies, also fit into this frame, not by representing purity and innocence, but rather by invoking pity for these would-be pure women who were victims of violent crimes. Such edge cases are strategic choices for anecdotes at rallies, like Thurman’s story and one of a Texan woman who went into sepsis.
Backed by women’s rights advocates, these cases pull the heartstrings of purity worshippers who may regard the average abortion-seeker with disdain.
Edge cases of abortion appeal to what were undecided, anti-Trump Republican voters because of their alignment with conservative purity culture. However, it
would be naive to suggest there are no detriments from the rhetoric employed.
Surrounding Americans with messages that cater to purity culture validates an ideology that judges abortion with a medieval sexual ethic. Democrats pay lip service to bodily autonomy by abstractly mentioning “freedom,” but this falls short when stories of the average abortion-seeker are deemed too unpalatable for campaigns.
No matter who assumes office, the Democratic Party must color outside the lines drawn by purity culture by unapologetically backing all forms of choice.
Only through an unconditional affirmation of bodily autonomy can the party stand by the women it aims to support.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Department of Title IX at 404-727-0541 and the Office of Respect’s hotline 24/7 at (404) 727-1514. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673. You can reach the Atlanta Grady Rape Crisis Center crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 616-4861 and the Decatur Day League Sexual Assault Care and Prevention crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 377-1428.
— Contact Selena Teng at selena.teng@emory.edu.
History screams at us: Go beyond ballot box
By JosseLyn st cLair ContriButing Writer
Voters in the United States are gripping their seats this morning, awaiting to hear whether former President Donald Trump will officially re-enter presidential office in on Jan. 20, 2025. As of print time, he is projected to win. Anxiety has taken hold of many people, like myself, who are fearful of what another term with Trump will look like. At this moment, I glance away from the news and think of my high school history teacher, who often touted the idea of teaching a class solely on 1968, a year plagued with a nearly incomprehensible tumult. 1968 was drowning in conflict with the Vietnam War, which the United States fought in and funded.
is pasted onto the present, and we must use the lessons from the past to guide our actions in our current struggles.
However, Americans have failed in our duty to keep history from occurring again, and I am disappointed.
that if young voters further engage with democratic institutions, they do, in fact, have the power to demand and enact change.
Gen Z, too, must continue the fght to show our next president what changes our generation wants to see.
I fear that Generation Z believes that their voices do not matter. I am afraid that our generation has abandoned civic participation. I am afraid that our generation only brought to fruition what we feared. Let me say, the only way people lose power is by believing that they do not have any.
they will work the hardest for us, but Gen Z, too, must continue the fight to show our next president what changes our generation wants to see. Our power works when we wield it. We have seen this truth on a massive scale in 1968, as well as this past summer, when Biden withdrew from the presidential race due to a decrease in support. Biden’s deference to Harris’ bid was a victory, but do not allow this to be the end of our fight. Do not stop as many in our past did, allowing a greater evil to win.
must not allow this fire to be extinguished. I look back at 1968 and see it reverberating in us thus far, but Gen Z and generations to come must learn from the mistakes of the past and avoid the inaction and loss of faith they succumbed to.
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s disastrous handling of Vietnam, which drove the occupation of buildings at Columbia University (N.Y.) and, ultimately, Johnson’s resignation from the presidential election.
Constantly, the parallels between 1968 and now are on my mind. History
Philosopher George Santayana’s words come to mind. He said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Have we done just that — damned ourselves? However, the more I ruminate over it, the more I realize that the violence, the chaos and the catastrophe is not where the story of 1968 ended. Johnson stepped down due to his unpopularity during the election, mirroring President Joe Biden’s actions earlier this year. Further protests in 1968 made it difficult for the United States to sustain its war efforts in Vietnam, leading to the Paris Peace Accords. This victory gives me hope that, if we are loud enough, our efforts in bringing peace and justice to the Middle East can be successful. Looking at our history reminds young people that collective actions in pursuit of our demands are capable of enacting the massive change we seek. Yet, we often do not see it this way, believing that our work is futile.
“[Protesting] is screaming into the black hole of a steady stream of passersby, trying to convince myself that this is a good use of my time,” Morgan Starnes wrote in their op-ed on their experience with the Gaza movement. While this sentiment is true, we must recognize that young people persevered in the past. We should use this precedent to further our efforts, knowing
Too many of the people that I love expressed hopelessness during this election and in the importance of their vote. Trump, with his affiliation with the racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic Project 2025, remains unpopular among Gen Z. Conversely, Harris, who has not wholly implemented the demands of the pro-Palestinian movement, leaves many young voters uninspired. I am disappointed with our candidates, and it is likely that you are too.
Yesterday was Election Day. I hope you voted — I hope you did not shy away from the election because of the flawed candidates. Rather, I hope you push the president-elect to continue to heed the demands from our generation. If you voted, make your vote count by protesting for what still falls short of the change you hoped to see enacted: Do not just fight for your chosen candidate, but drive them to fight for you. Labeling our system as broken is not enough. We must engage with it by bringing change from within.
Do not become complacent and douse our fire. We have seen the power of participation in the civic process: From demonstrations against Vietnam to Gaza to the withdrawal of support from Johnson to Biden — though I hope that former President Richard Nixon’s presidency will not be matched by its modern equivalent.
I hope that we will not concede our power when history has bled out the consequences. Anxiety has taken hold of many people, like myself, who are fearful of what another term with Trump will look like.
However, our options were not static figures, and Trump will not be, either: These candidates fought to prove that
Activism here in Georgia, such as the protests for the closure of the BioLab in Conyers, Ga., and the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, gives me hope. Emory University students organizing around issues that the student body wants to see changed — around the conflict in Gaza, the protection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students and the furthering of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — gives me hope that our generation, both at our own university and around the country, is a force to be reckoned with, and we
I hope that our generation will recognize the strength that our past instills in us, as well as see where the faith of our counterparts in 1968 began to drain and where our fervor must only increase.
I hope that, when future generations learn our story, they will not have to teach us as a cautionary tale. I hope that we will not concede our power when history has bled out the consequences.
— Contact Josselyn St. Clair at jmstcla@emory.edu.
Democrats must win back working class
By ethan JacoBs Contributing Writer
When Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) as her running mate, I was ecstatic because, through his life story and public service record, I saw an opportunity for the Democratic Party to redeem itself as a political home for the working class. Walz embodies middleclass values and concerns, shaped by his experiences as a high school teacher, coach and Army National Guard veteran. Harris’ selection of Walz felt like a genuine step toward recrafting the Democratic Party as a political ally for the working class, rooted in its values and priorities, such as economic security, healthcare access and strong public education. While President Joe Biden and Harris push policies aimed at reviving traditional union jobs in manufacturing and industrial sectors, their approach often overlooks today’s service-oriented, gig-based workforce. And following former President Donald Trump’s projected victory on Election Day, Democrats must win back this part of their base. For context, in the ’30s, former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” pulled the United States out of the Great Depression and created a coalition of blue-collar workers who identified with Roosevelt’s strong labor protections, new social programs and goals to raise wages. Today, the bond between the Democratic Party and workers is fraying, as workers grow alienated by a party that has turned a blind eye to the actual needs of American workers — job security, lower inflation, affordable healthcare and education. The Democratic Party has an opportunity to reclaim the trust of workers by confronting this new disconnect and recalibrating its platform — or else, it risks losing the working class for good to right-wing populists. The American working class is a different demographic today than it was during the Great Depression: Now, along with traditional union jobs, the modern working class consists of waiters, baristas, Uber drivers and teachers, whose economic needs are not the same.
The 2016 election season marked a pivotal point in middle-class political disillusionment — it was the first time that data showed the wealthiest 5% of white Americans voting for Democratic candidates at a higher
rate than those in the bottom twothirds of the income distribution. Over the last half-century, unionization has halved, decreasing from 20.1% in 1983 to 10.0% in 2023, and the workforce has become increasingly dominated by low-paying gig jobs with poor benefits and little to no labor protections. As key fixtures such as union halls vanished from working-class lives, Democrats failed to adapt to worker needs. Furthermore, as Democratic Party leadership ushered in neoliberal policies, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, policymakers dismantled the economic structures that sustained working-class communities in the Rust Belt and South. For example, factory closures caused reliable jobs to disappear, and entire towns were thrust into economic dilapidation. Many American workers feel that the Democratic Party has sold them out, prioritizing Wall Street and doing little to prevent corporate deregulation.
Trump’s economic populism and “America First” rhetoric is a timely reprieve for voters tired of being ignored by the political establishment. Trump’s messaging effectively captures the emotions of workers who see their jobs moving overseas and their benefits disappearing.
His economic platform relies on marketing policies that give workers the illusion of empowerment: Clever slogans like “Right To Work,” laws that ban having union membership as a condition of employment and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a 2017 Trump bill that gave enormous tax relief to large corporations, manufacture consent for policies that erode the middle class. However, Republican talking points are not simply duping working-class Americans. This is a condescending assumption that Democratic elites have long held and is part of the very problem with the Democratic Party’s new policy priorities. The Democratic establishment has drastically underestimated how well Trump’s pro-America message resonates with voters. This miscalculation is rooted in a foundational misunderstanding: Democrats do not understand modern American workers and what they prioritize. While Biden may walk the picket line and invoke the legacy of Roosevelt, his administration’s policies fail to address the reality of the modern economy. During his administration, Americans faced extreme inflation, rising housing costs and did not see
the strong economic data the White House touted reflected in their daily lives. Democrats are marketing to a workforce that no longer exists, focusing on policies designed for traditional union jobs. For example, the Biden-Harris administration failed to provide ambitious solutions to low healthcare access and high education costs despite 63% of middleclass voters supporting single-payer healthcare and 59% of voters without a college degree supporting free college education. Thus, Democrats are neglecting the challenges of gig work, automation and rising income inequality.
Opportunities still abound for Democrats to implement pro-worker policies and control the narrative on labor. Republicans frame their policies as middle-class wins, hoping workers will not notice the governmental yoke restricting access to unionization, dampening labor standards and imposing higher costs on goods for consumers.
As the 2024 presidential election comes to a close, Democrats have a chance to reinvent themselves — they can either continue losing workers’ votes to Republicans, or they can reinvest in an authentic vision for American labor — one that carves out a path for real economic equality.
This new labor movement starts with the workers themselves. I hope that new leaders with personal blue-collar work experiences, such as Walz, will offer American workers a platform to create policies that truly address their needs. While Harris and Trump tout their work experience at McDonald’s during their campaigns, real McDonald’s workers are likely laughing at their TVs, knowing that neither politician has plans to truly alleviate their hardships.
I could be proud of a Democratic Party that does not try to win working-class votes through cheap rhetoric and empty economic promises. Instead, it should prioritize a bold, progressive vision for American workers, championing the healthcare, job development and labor standards policies that meet both traditional blue-collar needs as well as those of these new workers.
Only then can Democrats rebuild a party worthy of the working class — and only then can they win voters back.
— Contact Ethan Jacobs at ethan.jacobs@emory.edu.
The Emory Wheel Arts Life
Silence, solitude, strength: Undocumented students talk 2024 election
By Wendy Pelayo DEI EDItor
Undocumented voices are often not included in mainstream discussions, particularly during election season. People with undocumented status in the United States do not have a social security number, which means they cannot vote, work legally, apply for loans or receive federal aid.In the weeks preceding the 2024 presidential election, three undocumented students spoke to The Emory Wheel about their experiences, highlighting the urgent need for representation and advocacy within the political landscape. The students explained that the barriers they face are not only difficult to live with, but can also serve as a constant reminder of their lack of a say in elections — a time when sharing voices is necessary to make impactful change.
This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length. All students were kept anonymous out of concern for their safety.
The Emory Wheel: How do you feel about the 2024 election?
Student 1: This is an important election. I feel like the candidates who are running right now … will really determine a lot for us.
On one side, you have someone who is not good morally, just not a good person, and then you have a person [who is] also not perfect, but she has a lot of policies that could favor us and my beliefs, not just about immigration
COMMUNITY
but political beliefs.
TEW: Do you like either of the candidates?
Student 1: I don’t like Trump, but I do like Kamala. … Overall, she’s just a better candidate. I’d say abortion, that’s a right that we should have. … She talks about immigration reform. … She would be better for us.
Student 2: There’s one [candidate] that’s particularly very scary, and because of that I am encouraging my family and my friends that can vote to vote, especially because a lot of them do have immigrant, undocumented family members.
Student 3: I would definitely say I’m leaning more towards the Democratic Party, just comparing what conditions the country were in and what we had as President Donald Trump. Also, watching them speak is probably not the best source, but knowing how they’re portraying themselves to the public leaves an impression on you. So, I have not been very impressed, for lack of better words, with the Republican Party for the past few years.
TEW: How do you feel your position as an undocumented student is going to influence you during the election?
Student 3: Peers of my age group have been trying to reach out to the community who can vote in order to be able to, at least, better the situations we currently are in as far as laws in Georgia and the United States in general. It definitely will affect who I hope
will win. I can’t vote, but I always tell people, “Vote for me,” because these are things that we aren’t able to change directly, but we have a voice that can do that for us, then it’s really helpful.
TEW: Do you face any internal conflict knowing you can’t vote?
Student 1: Part of me does. I feel like I don’t get a say in these decisions. I don’t have that voice. Some people have this privilege to vote and they don’t, and I wish I had that.
All I can do is encourage other people to vote, but I won’t get that experience of going to a poll and getting to cast my vote that speaks for other people or even myself. And that is sort of dehumanizing because other people can do it — other people I grew up with and who did the same things, went to the same schools. They have that right, but I don’t, simply because of where I am from, and that wasn’t a decision I made myself.
Student 2: I feel that my internal conflict is … mostly with my family
because of the fact that I personally know a lot of my family members can vote and they choose not to vote. … A lot of my family members happen to be undocumented … and it’s this frustration because it’s been a reality for me. I don’t really have a say specifically in the numbers of voting, but I try my best to talk to my family and friends that can.
Student 3: It definitely is upsetting, especially since, at least with the curriculum in Georgia when I was growing up in school, there was always that sense of responsibility that when you grow up and you turn 18, you have to vote because voting is important. … As a kid, before I found out I was undocumented, which was middle school, I was always excited, and I would tell my parents, “I can’t vote this election, but I’ll be able to in the next decade or so.”
And you know, especially because in my mind, there’s also that pressure of knowing which candidates would make decisions that could negatively or positively impact my family and myself. Upon finding out, I was quite distraught, because it just reinforces the fact that you’re a little alienated compared to a lot of the people you know that are citizens. Even now, it still makes me kind of sad, especially because it’s such an important election year that I won’t be able to. But, I guess the way I would cope with that is I have friends who can vote, so I try to encourage them to go out and get registered and be able to vote for me.
TEW: What are the ways voters can be allies to undocumented voices during this time?
Student 1: Voting. Telling people about it too.
I know some people may say, “I don’t like either candidate” or “My vote doesn’t matter,” but spreading the message that it does, that it has a big impact is important, especially in states right now like Georgia. … The number one way is being a voice for people who don’t have that voice.
Student 2: Just conversation and empathy especially. … Acknowledge the fact that there is fear. … Last presidential election with Biden, I feel like there was more a broad conversation. … This year, … it doesn’t feel like something that’s really important to people. People are trying to convince people to do this, do this, do this. … There is fear that is shared with your family members getting deported because of policies and promises that people think are going to be kept.
Especially that was the case with Donald Trump’s presidency, it was very much like, ‘Oh, am I going to be next? Is my family member going to be next?’
Student 3: Just learning about what it means to be undocumented. … Understanding where we come from, why we’re here, why we’re important. We’re not just … outsiders trying to find a place to fit in.
We’re already part of the community. And even though our circumstances are different, we are as close to citizens as any other American citizen could be, with the difference being a few pieces of paper.
– Contact Wendy Pelayo at wendy.pelayo@emory.edu
Local Atlantans display yard signs, demonstrate political pride
By Catherine Goodman
E DI tor
Beyond the bustling Chipotle Mexican Grill and the general chaos of Emory Village lie neighborhoods of concerned citizens, who, like Emory University students, are invested in the nation’s future. Throughout the contentious 2024 presidential election season, these Atlanta neighborhoods have engaged in political conversations and activism through a unique visual medium: yard signs. Ranging from simple royal blue “Harris Walz” posters to colorful “Grab him by the ballot” assertions and large “Trump Vance” banners, these signs speak to our current era’s divisiveness.
This collection of images exhibits the proud declarations of political affiliation, demands for action and devoted engagement of the surrounding Druid Hills community.
In the months leading up to the 2024 election, neighborhoods around Emory engaged in civic discourse, creative First Amendment expressions and a few targeted displays of political energy. During October, Halloween decor partnered with banners, flags and posters to create a spooky collage of activism, advise and animosity. While Atlanta is a predominantly Democratic city, yard signs in Druid Hills demonstrate the diversity of political affiliation of our neighbors and the wide-spread appeal of both candidates.
Druid Hills resident Shane McIntosh didn’t originally plan to pronounce his politics through yard signs, but decided to a few weeks ago following a street-wide theft. After an unidentified figure snatched the “Harris Walz” signs from every yard on Emory Road, later depositing them in a pile by the creek bed, McIntosh and his neighbors responded with even more enthusiasm.
McIntosh’s yard sign collection includes a “Harris Walz, Obviously” sign, one that reads “Lock him up. Trump for Prison” and another that references Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-Minn.) labeling of Republicans as “weird.”
Sa Sha EmmEr Ich/Staff IlluStrator
Regarding the function of political yard signs, McIntosh stressed the importance of expression and pride.
“[It’s just] to scream ‘This is what we are, this is who we back, this is what we believe,’” McIntosh said.
Although not directly reflected on his yard signs, for McIntosh, the decisive policy issues of the election are reproductive and financial freedoms.
“I’m married. I have a sister. [I have] my mother, I have a daughter. They’re strong, wonderful women who are totally capable of making decisions on their own. They don’t need us to tell them what to do about their bodies,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh described the government as trying to treat the United States like a “profit generator,” and drew the distinction that it’s a country that takes care of its people — not a company. McIntosh encouraged Emory students, especially first-time voters, to truly think about their vote.
“Vote how you want to vote, but think about it. Put some thought into it,” McIntosh said. “Are you about others? Or are you about these billionaires who have plenty?”
– Contact Catherine Goodman at catherine.goodman@emory.edu
natalIE SanDlow/VISual anD wEb EDItor
Sa Sha EmmEr Ich/Staff IlluStrator
Emory students fnd their voice in crucial election
By amelia Bush and sam sandler
I but I n G w r I t E r S
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Leading up to Election Day, the energy at Emory University was tense. Emotions filled the classrooms and buildings as many students participated in their first presidential election — an unpredictable race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump that had many voters feeling anxious about the outcome.
Both returning voters and firsttime voters attending Emory had a unique opportunity to both participate in the democratic process and to serve as a key voice in Georgia, a contentious swing state.
The early voting period in Georgia lasted from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, during which more than 4 million Georgians cast ballots. Many Emory students voted early, while others mailed absentee ballots to their home states or planned to vote on Election Day.
To better understand the preferences and emotions of first-time voters at Emory, The Emory Wheel spoke to eight first-time voters about their anxieties, the policies they value the most and what this election means to them.
Annika Sun (26C)
Annika Sun (26C) registered to vote in Georgia in hopes of influencing the election’s outcome in the state.
Although Sun is from Connecticut, she recognizes the power swing states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia hold.
“In Connecticut, it’s a really blue state, and it always is,” Sun said. “I felt like Georgia’s a very important state, even for governor elections, so I felt like my vote would be more important here.”
Sun has voted in the 2022 senatorial and gubernatorial elections in Georgia. However, it was her first time voting in a presidential election. She cited abortion as an issue that inspired her to vote.
“[Abortion] could directly affect me,” Sun said. “I felt like it was important to vote.”
“I feel like it’s up to the candidates to get people off their couch and vote.”
—Annika
Sun
Leading up to the election, many components influenced Sun’s voting choice.
“Me and all my friends sat and watched the debate when it happened,” Sun said. “The debate was nice because, in ads, they don’t actually talk about issues. In the debate, they were actually talking about the issues.”
The election gave Sun a new perspective on politics, campaigning and voting compared to previous elections.
“I pay more attention now, and it’s more important to me when I feel like I couldn’t vote,” Sun said. “Yes, it was important, and I was sort of paying attention, but I wasn’t really watching the debate because I wasn’t helping make a decision.”
Sun expressed anxiety about the potential outcome and stressed the need for more action from politicians.
“I feel like it’s up to the candidates to get people off their couch and vote,” Sun said. “At this point, people have made up their minds, and it’s just about getting as many people to vote as possible.”
Caroline Hansen (25C)
California native Caroline Hansen’s (25C) perspective on the electoral process has not changed since adolescence. Although Hansen is voting in her first presidential election, she has witnessed first-time voting before — through her mother.
Hansen’s mom was not yet a U.S. citizen before the 2016 election, meaning she could not vote at the time. However, she sought citizenship following Trump’s inauguration.
“My mom wasn’t a U.S. citizen then, and she became a U.S. citizen specifically because Trump won and she wanted to vote against Trump,” Hansen said. “She didn’t want it to happen again.”
The main issues in this election for Hansen are abortion and the rise of hateful rhetoric. Hansen noted that she hopes her vote will prevent hate and stereotypes from spreading.
“Giving someone more power media-wise can lead to some really damaging stereotypes about certain people and can be really, really harmful,” Hansen said. “I want to make sure that my vote can hopefully lead to that not happening again.”
Hansen discussed Georgia’s integral role in the election and the impact her vote can have in Georgia.
“When I got into Emory, my mom’s first thing was: ‘You have to register to vote in Georgia,’” Hansen said.
First-year student Abhinav Dandamudi (28C) expressed excitement about voting. Dandamudi said that the election encouraged him to pay attention to domestic issues.
“I am more interested in focusing on the state of the country rather than focusing on international affairs because I think there’s a lot of things that we could fix with the country,” Dandamudi. “We should turn our focus inward.”
Dandamudi’s views on the candidates have largely remained the same since he became eligible to vote in the U.S.
“It’s basically the same thing as it was four years ago, just a different Democratic candidate,” Dandamudi said. “But I feel like it’s a really polarized country, and it’s just interesting to see how it goes in the future.”
Dandamudi said that watching the debates helped inform his vote.
“The debates have been really interesting, seeing how they contrast with each other,” Dandamudi said. “So, I’ve been mostly watching
those.”
Dandamudi urged future firsttime voters to cast their ballots when eligible.
“You only turn 18 once,” Dandamudi said. “You as well may vote for the first time.”
Emily Chea (28C)
Now that she’s eligible to vote, Emily Chea (28C) feels empowered that she can express her opinion in local and global affairs. In this presidential election, Chea had no issue speaking up and choosing a side.
“I feel like I’m very left-leaning in general, so I definitely align with Kamala a lot more than I do with Trump,” Chea said. “But something that also bugs me about Trump is his lack of policy ideas. He has a lot of concepts of plans and nothing too concrete, and I don’t really like his concepts either.”
Chea’s perspective on the democratic process has changed since she arrived at Emory and became eligible to vote.
“I feel like before, I didn’t think of it as something really serious,” Chea said. “But as I’m now 18, I’m in college, I know a lot of different people from different backgrounds, I feel like it’s really, really important that we all go vote.”
William McNally (28C)
Minnesota native William McNally (28C) believes that Americans have a civic responsibility to make informed and responsible decisions based on the availability of useful information. Paying careful attention to the candidates’ policies guided McNally’s vote.
“When I got into Emory, my mom’s first thing was: ‘You have to register to vote in Georgia.”
—Caroline Hansen
“Harris talks a lot about providing certain grants and loans to lower-income people,” McNally said. “I think that’s really important, especially for people who are just getting into buying houses.”
McNally explained that he also appreciates Vice President Kamala
Harris’ approach to other national and international issues, including the geopolitical alliances and the border.
“I like that Harris wants to stay within our alliances and stay with our allies,” McNally said. “She is very much open to helping get a better situation with the border.”
After Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee on July 21, McNally’s perspective on voting in the election changed.
“It’s definitely been interesting to see what Harris is about because, obviously, we had Biden before, so I’ve mostly been focusing on him,” McNally said. “But now [with] Harris, stuff I had heard about her before that she was pretty liberal, but now she’s kind of shifted her views, and I like that she’s done that.”
When considering effective marketing and advertisements, McNally believes both candidates have effectively leveraged younger generations.
“I would say both of them have done a really nice job of trying to reach younger voters through podcasts and reaching out to younger celebrities rather than just doing big rallies,” McNally said. “Both of them Liam Cochran (28C)
First-year Liam Cochran (28C) recently voted at Emory’s 1599 Clifton Road polling location. Cochran, who grew up in Mississippi but now lives in Texas, said he felt “a lot of pride and confidence” voting after walking out of the polling center.
“This is cliché, but I felt like I counted,” Cochran said.
By voting, Cochran believes he performed his “civic duty,” an act he finds particularly important given his upbringing in Mississippi, the site of immense political and civic change.
“The way that African Americans and civil rights leaders saw participating in democracy was that you had to vote,” Cochran said. “That’s how they changed the world that they were in, which was not working for them.”
Despite the general dissatisfaction regarding this election and the candidates, Cochran expressed positivity about the future of the country’s democracy.
“I feel like the candidates have been very old recently, but I feel as if a new generation is stepping into the political scene of America, that being our parents’ generation and the youngest of the boomers,” Cochran said.
With this new generation, Cochran is hopeful for a bright future that is more representative of younger voices.
“I feel very excited about that being the state of our country at the moment because I don’t feel very represented sometimes when I see [82]-year-old
Mitch McConnell,” Cochran said. “It’s nice to see a younger crowd coming into U.S. politics and making a decision for this country.”
In the weeks preceding election day, Cochran noticed both parties’ election ads on YouTube and noted how it impacted the way he viewed both candidates.
“It gives me a snippet into what the main driving sources of policy that each party is using,” Cochran said of the YouTube ads. “It also distills down the policy of each party into a very concise framework… I don’t think it’s been the most effective, but I think it’s been the most informative to me.”
“But I feel like it’s a really polarized country, and it’s just interesting to see how it goes in the future.”
Abhinav Dandamudi
Toby Zakai (28C), a student from Maryland, voted in his first presidential election this October. Zakai, a first-year student, voted by mail in his home state because he missed Georgia’s registration deadline. Zakai chose to vote because of motivation from his family and because he felt a strong sense of responsibility to make his voice heard.
“My decision to vote was mostly just my friends and family,” Zakai said. “They’re like, ‘you should vote for this person,’ but I was going to vote for them anyways because what they’re saying aligns with my values.”
Despite not following the presidential debates “closely,” Zakai believes that former President Donald Trump’s method of campaigning makes the election feel “less serious.” While Trump’s 2016 campaign hinged on his status as an outsider rather than a politician, Trump’s current non-traditional strategies and rhetoric left Zakai feeling unsatisfied.
“Trump is very outthere,” Zakai said. “He’s not a traditional candidate, so it kind of makes the election feel less different.”
– Contact Amelia Bush at amelia.bush@emory.edu and Sam Sandler at sam.sandler@emory.edu
Abhinav Dandamudi (28C)
Toby Zakai (28C)
Face the music following election results with 6 apt tracks
By Catherine Goodman a rt S & l I f E E DI tor
Listen While Reading
If you’ve somehow missed the headlines over the past seven months, yesterday marked Election Day — one that may prove to be of the most consequential of our lifetimes. Since July, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up, former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and vice presidential candidate JD Vance struggled to order donuts in Valdosta, Ga. After months of fierce campaigning, aggressive political advertisement and tense conversations with estranged relatives, it is finally time to face the music and a new administration.
In a period of such divisiveness and anxiety, it is tempting to bury one’s head beneath the sand, throw preemptive pity parties and ignore our nation’s rich history of unification and devotion to democracy.
But as Harris said, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.
So in the spirit of living within the context, I present a playlist of political anthems that address the issues of our past, present and future.
For whatever mood you find yourself in today — whether celebratory or crestfallen — I hope this Cat’s Collec-
CROSSWORD
tion makes you feel a little less alone.
‘American Teenager’ by Ethel Cain (2022)
“American Teenager” by Ethel Cain captures the tumultuous nature of coming of age in a divided and perhaps perilous society. On the brink of irrevocable climate damage, continuing gun violence and general dissatisfaction, the promise of reckless teenage years falls to the wayside. Instead of scanning the classroom for your new school crush, you have to locate the potential emergency exits. Attending events such as concerts, football games or parties no longer appear as light-hearted escapades but as leaps of faith. Cain explores this anxiety as a captivating and energetic beat plays in “American Teenager.” “Say what you want, but say it like you mean it / With your fists for once, a long cold war / With your kids at the front,” she sings. This track makes you want to roll the windows down and send your arms flying into the cool breeze, screaming at the very top of your lungs — then it makes you want to call your state representative and demand action.
‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ by Billy Joel (1989)
In “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Billy Joel reckons with inheriting a world of disjunction, discontent and disillusion his generation played no part in establishing. In the verses, he lists everything from Harry Truman and Marilyn Monroe to “The Catcher In The Rye” (1951), gathering controversial figures, large-scale tragedies and government screw-ups into a few quick lines, like twigs on a bonfire.“We Didn’t Start the Fire” includes 119 references to political events, obscure pop-culture allusions and more. After his rapid-fire listings, Joel avoids culpability by asserting “We didn’t start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world’s been turn-
8. Astronomy’s ___ cloud
9. Nada
10. de Armas of “Knives Out”
11. Allow
12. Color
14. Steak cut called “rump” in the UK
17. Prefix with thermal
21. Fannie ___ (loan company)
24. Pooped
25. Pacifist’s dream
26. Summed
28. Follows orders
29. “Didn’t need to hear all that,” over text
31. Encrusted
32. Lightbulb moment shout
33. Couples, in paparazzi speak
34. “... nevermind”
35. Shrewd
39. Female deer
40. Target
41. Go downhill, perhaps
46. Seeped
47. Choppa with an Emory University Homecoming concert
49. Call before a catch
52. Trio rhymed with “1, 2, 3” in a Jackson 5 hit
54. Got up
55. The last third party candidate to receive at least 10% of
56. Chess or checkers
57. Grew older
58. Understand
Aries animal 65. Targets of much
ing.”Joel explores how each generation grows up with new circumstances, new controversies and new challenges, ultimately passing the unfixable issues on to the next group of overwhelmed youngsters. “We didn’t start the fire / No, we didn’t light it / But we tried to fight it,” Joel sings, demonstrating how the actions of one generation become the issues of the next. As many members of Gen Z entered the voting booth for the first time this November, what fires might they have been putting out?
‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ by The Chicks (2006)
The Chicks, formerly called the Dixie Chicks, are unapologetic champions of political advocacy, though their path to openly embracing democratic ideology has been tumultuous. In their 2003 concert in London, band member Natalie Maines publicly expressed her discontent with being from the same state as former U.S. President George W. Bush and the impending invasion of Iraq, triggering an avalanche of offended patriots forsaking their fandom, burning their CDs and even sending death threats to the singers. After a brief hiatus, the band stood 10 toes down with the release of their album “Taking the Long Way” (2006). In the album’s third track, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” the band explores the seismic backlash of Maines’ comments in 2003 and reckons with the disconnect between their personal beliefs and the prevailing current of country music — rooted in the South, steeped in blue-blood patriotism and Republican rhetoric. “Forgive? Sounds good / Forget? I’m not sure I could,” Maines sings.This song is half a funeral ballad and half a battle cry as it mourns the relationship The Chicks once had with the country genre while the group refuses to apologize. “I made my bed and I sleep like a baby,” Maines sings. She later adds, “I’m not ready to make nice / I’m not ready to back down.” This
song serves as a reminder to stand tall and stand proud. It also set a precedent by encouraging many future female country singers, including Maren Morris and Taylor Swift, to be politically active despite potential repercussions.
‘Where Is The Love?’ by the Black Eyed Peas (2003)
Another R&B track, “Where Is The Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas shares a similar perspective with Childish Gambino. In approaching violence, injustice and fear, the Black Eyed Peas package their cultural criticism into powerful lyricism and a hypnotic soulful sound. The song begins by questioning, “What’s wrong with the world, Mama?” In the same verse, the band addresses terrorism, racial discrimination and the unproductive outputs of hate, ultimately calling for a wholescale investment in love. “Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight / Take control of your mind and meditate,” the group demands. The group continues to express dissatisfaction with the state of the world on the melodic chorus, singing, “People killin’, people dyin’ / Children hurt, and you hear them cryin’ / Can you practice what you preach? / And would you turn the other cheek?” While the lyrics of “Where Is the Love?” are candid and powerful, the true strength of this song lies in its performance as the synthesis of pithy rap lines and smooth crooning reflect that beauty that lies within unification.
‘Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar)’ by Beyoncé (2016)
As the official walkout song of Vice President Kamala Harris, I would be remiss to exclude “Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” by Beyoncé from this playlist. Beyoncé’s powerful vocals over a domineering percussion section establish an immediacy and ferocity that grabs the listener’s attention from the first line. The chorus, featured in many
of Harris’ campaign advertisements, is a true rally cry. “Freedom, freedom, I can’t move / Freedom, cut me loose, yeah / Freedom, freedom, where are you?” Beyoncé belts. Harris faced a steep uphill climb after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21. She first had to earn the trust of the Democratic party and then the whole nation, with substantially less time than her opponent, former President Donald Trump. In this way, “Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” fits her fight perfectly as Beyoncé sings, “Hey, I’ma keep running / ‘cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.”
‘American Pie’ by Don McLean (1971)
“American Pie” by Don McLean is a staple of American music. Written in response to the turmoil of the 1960s — namely the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. and the Vietnam War — the message of this classic folk-rock track reigns true decades later. In his documentary, “The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie” (2022), McLean went verse by verse, explaining the references, subtle nods and ultimate symbolism of his jam-packed song. Though we can’t fully unpack this nearly-nine-minute masterpiece, its political critiques and their modern relevance are worth delving into. For instance, in the fifth verse, McLean refers to “a generation lost in space,” likely alluding to the “lost generation” who came of age during World War I. While some obscure references to old TV shows and celebrities may elude younger listeners, “American Pie” remains a testament to the importance of politically engaged artistry and the longevity of a well-crafted song.
– Contact Catherine Goodman at catherine.goodman@emory.edu
1 Crossword: 270 to Win
By ethan altshul
Teams can generate voter enthusiasm
Continued from Back Page
tion now than during the height of the pandemic, these sports venues could have seen an uptick in use for the 2024 election cycle compared to pandemic levels had they been used.
Teams also stand to benefit from this arrangement. Many teams’ staff members volunteered as poll workers and enjoyed helping the communities they work in, according to the Civic Responsibility Project study. Not only that, but team staff and ownership’s commitment to serving their community strengthened their relationships with local election officials, evidencing that they can continue to work together to use sports venues for elections in the future.
The enthusiasm sports teams generate for their fanbase coincides with the enthusiasm they can drum up for voting. The study lists numerous examples of teams providing voters with a typical sports fan experience, including sharing “I Voted” selfies on jumbotrons, during the voting process. At Lucas Oil
Stadium, Indianapolis Colts players handed out t-shirts and stickers to voters, and Washington D.C. voters could take pictures with the Washington Nationals’ World Series Championship trophy while at Nationals Park.
Teams should get comfortable being involved, as voting access should be a nonpartisan initiative. Citizen support for using stadiums to vote is clear, with a survey included in the Civic Responsibility Project report finding that 77% percent of total respondents strongly or somewhat supported the use of stadium voting.
In future elections, leagues should step up to avoid scheduling conflicts surrounding Election Day and make sure they open up stadiums to aid in voting efforts. Other leagues should follow the example of the NBA, which is not scheduling games on Election Day, instead shifting their focus to sharing resources and information from voting organizations. Additionally, NFL and MLB stadiums are seemingly perfect fits
Tough schedule ahead for improving women’s team
Continued from Back Page
emphasis during their practices.
“Our offense flows in transition and we like to push the tempo a lot,” Laudick said. “Getting those rebounds and getting quick outlets is really important to get our point guards up and get our runners — our twos and threes — get them the ball and get easy layups.”
Aronsky also pinpointed aggression and sharing the ball as a defining trait of this year’s team.
“Playing together as a team is something we’ve really stressed this offseason,” Aronsky said. “We’ve been stressing sharing the ball and getting everybody involved.”
The Eagles will open play later this season in the always-competitive UAA, where they finished third last season with a 9-5 conference record. They’ll face off against both No. 1 New York University and No. 18 Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) twice this season. Laudick said she is looking forward to the tough conference competition.
“It’s a toss-up every single night we play in conference, and that’s what makes it so much fun to play in the UAA,” Laudick said.
Outside of conference opponents, the team will also face No. 7 Washington and Lee on Nov. 16 in the Emory Tip-Off Classic, as well as No.
for general elections, as the NFL does not play games on Tuesdays and nearly every MLB ballpark is no longer in use by early November.
Opponents of stadium voting would be hard-pressed to find drawbacks. The venues make voting quicker and more accessible to voters. Teams also provide enthusiasm and can capitalize on new community engagement initiatives.
The findings are clear: Voting access is a nonpartisan issue and teams should confidently support measures to increase voting accessibility without fear of political backlash.
While the use of sports venues will be more limited in this year’s election cycle, going forward, teams should exchange foam fingers for “I voted” stickers, swap basketball hoops for ballot boxes and open their doors to voters who want to make their voices heard.
— Contact Will Peck at will.peck@emory.edu
SWOOP’S SCOOP
5 Bowdoin College (Maine) on Dec. 30 in the St. Petersburg Classic at Eckerd College (Fla.).
Although the schedule ahead of them is difficult, the group is positive their winning culture will result in a successful season. Jackson, who sports an impressive 102-49 record in her six seasons as head coach, credited the team’s success to the university’s refusal to be complacent.
“We could easily stay where we’re at and still be OK but Emory is a place that’s always trying to get better,” Jackson said.
One tradition Jackson has brought to the team is road sweeps. When the team wins a stretch of away games, Jackson takes them out for ice cream as a reward for their success. Jackson mentioned that it takes two double road sweeps to reach the national tournament final, so the tradition prepares the team during the regular season for that situation.
The team’s seniors have seen the Eagles improve each year, which Aronsky and Laudick attributed to the upperclassmen who led the team when they were freshmen. This improvement culminated in a 19-7 regular season last year. Despite this achievement, the three seniors want something more in their final season, with Aronsky noting it’s “now or never.”
“Me, Dani and Erin are just super competitive,” Laudick said. “We’ve worked so hard our whole lives. This is our dream to win a championship and we know we can do it.”
The Eagles’ road to the ring begins on Nov. 13 away at LaGrange College (Ga.). Although the team stresses the importance of every regular season game, their main aspirations will hopefully unfold in March at the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship. After falling short in recent seasons, the team is looking to overcome past disappointments and pursue the ultimate goal: a national title.
“We want a gold national championship on a banner,” Laudick said.
— Contact Sammy Brodsky at sammy.brodsky@emory.edu
The future of NIL deals, politics
By Justin Guo Contributing Writer
This year marks the first presidential election since college athletes earned the right to compensation through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, opening the door to a new type of political endorsement. A political activism group called Montana Together leaned into this opportunity in August, offering University of Montana studentathletes up to $2,400 to create social media posts endorsing incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who was in a close race with Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.
Montana Together messaged student-athletes, “Montana Together is using Opendorse to source athletes for an NIL deal. Who are they looking for? Athletes who attend college in Montana and are interested in spreading the word about Senator Jon Tester and causes you care about.”
The NCAA must prioritize player and school protection by implementing policies governing NIL deals with political groups while continuing to create opportunities for players to proft from their NIL rights.
Two University of Montana women’s soccer players accepted the NIL money from Montana Together. Tester’s office has denied contact with the NIL athletes or Montana Together. This form of advertising and endorsement is legal, according to Federal Elections Commission regulations, but there is some concern about involving young studentathletes in paid political campaigns. This sparks questions about the role, if any, universities should play in regulating NIL deals involving their student-athletes and politicians.
Ultimately, the NCAA must prioritize player and school protection by implementing policies governing NIL deals with political groups while continuing to create opportunities for players to profit from their NIL rights.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) signed an executive order on Sept. 17, allowing direct NIL payments to athletes and protecting them from any punishments from the NCAA. With the NCAA only approving NIL deals three years ago, there is a lack of precedent surrounding the payment of student-athletes.
Therefore, student-athletes may be more inclined to participate in political NIL deals under Kemp’s protection, turning even more eyes to Georgia’s pivotal role in modern politics.
Professor of Marketing Mike Lewis wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that NIL deals have “fundamentally disrupted college sports.”
“It is still an evolving situation and some sort of regulation seems likely, but for now it’s not clear what college sports will look like going forward,” Lewis wrote.
Lewis noted that, except for rare cases, celebrity endorsements often do not impact the outcomes of elections, and college athletes are unlikely to break that trend.
“Taylor Swift might have an impact because her audience is highly influenceable and her fandom is extremely broad,” Lewis wrote. “The average college athlete is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on political outcomes.”
One consideration of the rise of political NIL deals is the pressure that endorsements put on young student-athletes who may not have an authentic connection to the candidate.
With many of their fans being other college students, athletes may receive criticism for representing beliefs they are not completely aware of. These athletes, many of whom are still too young to drink alcohol, will be placed in impossible situations, navigating ways to avoid financial exploitation and uncomfortable endorsements.
These decisions may also present division within the team, affecting athlete performance. One of the pri-
mary dictators for attention at the professional level for college athletes is team success. In college football, the cluster of schools that win the most games every year end up having the most players turn professional. For example, since 2000, the University of Alabama has won the most national championships and produced the most NFL players with 137 athletes. Political NIL deals could shift player focus away from team cohesion and success, indirectly affecting the aspirations of players across the country.
“The
average college athlete is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on political outcomes.”
—
Mike Lewis
Another factor at play is the deals’ effect on the image of the athlete’s university, as political endorsements may suggest that the institution is supporting a specific candidate. This could affect institutions immensely, particularly with important donors and alumni who hold different political views.
Currently, schools have the authority to reject any deals that involve alcohol, gambling or endorsement of brands that oppose existing deals. In the future, however, universities themselves might try to regulate political NIL deals as these advertisements could affect enrollment, public support and campus safety.
With these pros and cons surrounding political NIL deals, the NCAA must consider the abundance of conflicts of interest and reputation risks for the players in their conferences.
While the NCAA certainly wants to encourage players to earn, they must also prioritize player protection and put policies in place regarding political NIL deals. — Contact Justin Guo at justin.guo@emory.edu
Justin Whitening/ staff Photogra Pher Senior guard Daniella Aronsky shoots a free throw during a game on Feb. 19.
Sports The Emory Wheel
Opinion: Sports venues are no-brainer polling places
By Will Peck Sports Editor
The Atlanta Hawks became one of the first major sports teams in 2020 to transform their venue into a polling location, utilizing State Farm Arena as an early voting location for the Georgia primary runoff election and early voting for the general election. This practice became commonplace across the NBA in 2020 due to agreements between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association on social justice initiatives after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a league-wide protest to stop play following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Ultimately, 48 stadiums across major sports leagues became voting locations for the 2020 presidential
election. However, for the 2024 general election, State Farm Arena is not a polling location and the number of stadiums open for voting is closer to 15.
While the need for locations with ample space is no longer as prevalent as it was during the pandemic, a study from the Civic Responsibility Project on sports venues used as polling places found that “sports facilities make excellent polling sites and team involvement in promoting voting is uniquely helpful in sharing the importance of participation.”
From a purely logistical standpoint, stadiums and arenas are perfect for large-scale events like voting. They are often centrally located in downtown areas with plenty of space for parking and easy public transportation access.
State Farm Arena, for example, offered
voters free parking in 2020 and has a MARTA train station directly outside the venue.
All of these accessibility benefits have positive effects on voters’ experiences. In 2020, those who voted at State Farm Arena waited an average of 26 minutes to cast their ballot, whereas some other polling locations in the county experienced wait times that averaged four hours.
The Civic Responsibility Project study reported that the location and public transportation benefits were even underutilized at sports venues used for voting in 2020. With more people commuting to downtown areas for work and less hesitancy to use public transporta -
See TEAMS, Page 11
Women’s basketball confdent in championship aspirations
By sammy BroDsky Contributing Writer
The Emory University women’s basketball team has gone a combined 36-13 in their past two regular seasons, but back-to-back NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship first-round exits have left the team with a sour taste in their mouth. Although they have recently underperformed, the group remains confident about the upcoming season.
The team has built up a solid core of players that can hold their own against any University Athletic Association (UAA) squad. Senior guard Daniella Aronsky and senior forward Morgan Laudick look to lead the team this upcoming season.
Aronsky is coming off of two straight 10-point-per-game seasons, sporting an incredible 63% true shooting percentage in those combined years. Laudick finished last season with 9.5 points per game, grabbing over five rebounds per game as well. Ahead of her final season, Laudick said the team has something to prove this year after not being ranked in the national preseason polls.
“A lot of people are doubting us, but I honestly think that this team is so confident,” Laudick said. “We just have something to prove to ourselves and to other people around the country and to other teams. We just want to win. We’re hungrier this year and confident and I’m honestly super excited to see what this team can do.”
The depth of the Eagles’ roster spans much further than these two senior starters. Graduate transfer guard Hanna Malik will add a valuable scoring option to the team. Malik maintained a career average of 12.6 points per game in her time at Washington and Lee University (Va.).
The team is built up of notable returners as well. Sophomore guard Alexandra Loucopoulos added 5.7 points per game off the bench last season, and senior forward Erin Martin grabbed a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Lily Kennedy, who head coach Misha Jackson called a “silent assassin,” turned heads last year with her stellar shooting, resulting in an excellent 55.2% effective field goal percentage.
The road to a national championship starts during practice, and the team has made sure to take them seriously. Jackson said she has pushed her players to treat every practice like a national tournament game.
“We definitely accomplished a lot last year, a lot of firsts in our program, but our program and our culture is at a different place than it was a few years ago,” Jackson said. “Even though we had an amazing season, we still feel like we didn’t accomplish too much. But for this year in order to get ready for March, we have to prepare for that like it’s today.”
Jackson and Laudick noted that rebounding has been a key point of
See TOUGH, Page 11
Peach state politics: The intersection of sports and politics in Georgia
By Jenna Daly Senior Staff Writer
Sports are political.
Anyone who says otherwise ignores the longstanding impact that sports and politics have on each other. For decades, politicians and civil activists have utilized sporting events to promote or criticize various policies. Simultaneously, professional sports leagues have leveraged their influence on state economies to push for political change. Whether people like it or not, politics and sports are intertwined.
Atlanta is no stranger to political dissent surrounding its sports. Before Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, civil activist groups such as Open Door Community warned against the Olympic stadium’s construction out of concern for Atlanta’s low-income neighborhoods and homeless population. Open Door Community pointed out that Olympic host cities often push for “vagrantfree” Games, deliberately pushing out homeless citizens without providing supportive resources.
Activists’ concerns never gained traction, and Atlanta became the 1996 host city. In the last decade, Atlanta has faced more pressing political criticism surrounding its sporting events and professional organizations. Atlanta’s population has grown
rapidly since the 1996 Olympics, increasing by roughly four million inhabitants. As the city boomed, Atlantans began to form a distinct blue spot in the largely red state of Georgia. This pushed Georgia to the foreground of American politics for the past four years. Georgia transitioned from staunchly Republican to a swing state that helped elect President Joe Biden during the 2020 election, and both Democrats and Republicans have ramped up their campaign efforts in the state this year.
Recent criticisms surrounding sports and politics have arisen amid this political ideology shift in Georgia’s population. However, before Georgia gained the sports boycott spotlight, professional sports leagues faced backlash multiple times for hosting events in Arizona. With the exception of 1996, Arizona voted Republican in every presidential election from 1952 to 2016. The state legislature has reflected this Republican support, with state laws often being conservative.
In 1991, the NFL decided to relocate the 1993 Super Bowl after Arizona refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday. The NBA also moved important meetings out of the state for the same reason. Arizona took a massive economic hit, with the NFL and NBA leaving and the NCAA rejecting a bid to host postseason tourna-
ment games. The state lost upwards of $200 million, which may have prompted Arizona to recognize MLK Day in 1992.
Similar situations have occurred in the peach state. In 2021, Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) signed an act that tightened absentee ballot requirements, cut down on ballot drop box usage and limited people from approaching voters in line. Many Democratic leaders, in addition to Atlanta-based companies like Coca-Cola and Delta, criticized these changes for limiting democratic participation.
The MLB sided with Delta and Coca-Cola, removing the 2021 AllStar Game and draft from Atlanta. Removing the All-Star game prompted serious backlash from Republican leaders, including former President Donald Trump, who as of print time is poised to win the 2024 presidential election, who suggested boycotting baseball.
Cobb County, the home of the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, missed out on an estimated $100 million of tourism expenditures as a result of the moved All-Star Game. This was a massive blow to Cobb County’s tourism industry, especially after the COVID19 pandemic caused hotel stay rates to plummet. This was not enough, however, to prompt any change to the conservative voting laws. In fact, Kemp defended the new laws and blamed the MLB at a 2021 press conference for
being scared of “Stacey Abrams, Joe Biden and the left.”
Georgia’s senatorial race in 2022 also highlighted the collision of sports and politics. Republican candidate Herschel Walker leveraged his football and track and field career at the University of Georgia (UGA) during his campaign. At UGA, Walker earned All-American honors for both sports and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Before his senatorial campaign, Walker had limited political experience, especially in Georgia.
When Walker entered Georgia’s senatorial race, some constituents were hesitant because his political stances were largely unknown. Walker’s athletic notoriety gained favor with Georgia’s Republican voters, many of whom are proud Bulldogs fans. Like many of Georgia’s prominent Republican politicians, Walker favored campaigning in Athens, Ga., compared to Atlanta. Additionally, The Battery, the new suburban location of the Atlanta Braves stadium, was home to Walker’s senatorial campaign headquarters. This location situated Walker closer to Georgia’s Republican voters, who are whiter and located further outside cities compared to many Democratic voters.
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) entrance into politics is on the opposite end of the spectrum as Walker’s.
Despite his 2022 campaign being his first political role, Warnock has been vocal for decades about civil and political activism. After graduating from Morehouse College (Ga.), Warnock utilized his position as a minister to bring attention to drug addiction in Black communities, voting rights and deathrow prisoners.
Warnock’s transition into politics could be considered more traditional compared to Walker’s pivot from sports. However, sports carry notable influence in Georgia politics and likely played a role in Warnock only winning 51.37% votes to Walker’s 48.63% in the run-off election. Georgia’s sports identity is only getting stronger, so voters may see nominees in state or federal elections increasingly utilize sports within their campaign platforms. This is especially pertinent as Atlanta looks forward to hosting multiple major sporting events in the next four years, including the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2025, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the 2028 Super Bowl.
From the 1996 Olympics to Walker’s recent senatorial campaign, sports and political movements in the peach state have been intertwined. As Atlanta grows in population and national notoriety, politics will continue to play a key role in the state’s sports.
Jenna Daly/senior staff Writer
State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks, opened its doors as a polling location in 2020.