Election Day 2022 - The Statesman

Midterms could hinge on four Long Island congressional races

By Benjamin Amster

Disclosure: Author interned on Jackie Gordon’s campaign last spring.

In the past year, the Taliban fortified its control over Afghanistan, gas prices spiked amid a Russian incursion into Ukraine and inflation climbed to historic highs.

According to poll aggregator FiveThir tyEight, Aug. 29, 2021, was the last time more Americans approved of President Joe Biden than disapproved of him — as of Oct. 20, 2022, Biden had a 53% disapproval rat ing and only a 42.5% approval rating. This created a political environment in which the Republican Party seemed almost certain to retake the House and the Senate, according to CNN.

On the state level, the idea of a sweep ingly dominant Democratic party is fizzling out, as more voters are Republican-leaning.

Bridget Fleming, a Democrat running to succeed Republican Lee Zeldin, boasts the largest financial gap on the island — an almost 3-1 lead over GOP candidate Nick LaLota, who has struggled to gain financial momentum.

“The Republican Party’s influence on Long Island poses some difficulties for Fleming,” Charles Joseph Burgardt, a junior majoring in history and political sci ence and secretary for Stony Brook’s College Democrats, said. “But considering the substantial financial support her campaign has received in comparison to Nick LaLota’s campaign, I’d say she’s in a better position to win than LaLota.”

LaLota came to Stony Brook University on Wednesday, Oct. 19 to talk to the College

Republicans. Sara Adcock, a junior studying health science and president of Stony Brook’s College Republicans, took a different stance than Burghardt.

“[The College Republicans are] pretty confident in his chances,” Adcock said about LaLota. “He has a really strong platform.”

Some of these candidates stand to increase the representation of marginalized Long Island communities if elected.

Robert Zimmerman, running in the 3rd District, would be the first openly gay politician to represent Long Island in Congress. On his campaign website, he writes that “coming of age in the suburbs was a lonely and isolating place,” and recounts a teacher suggesting he pursue conversion therapy.

Also in Nassau County, Republican Anthony D’Esposito has close ties to the heavily Jewish community he hopes to represent. The former New York Police Department officer gained praise from Rabbi Anchelle Perl for being involved in the protection of the global Chabad Head quarters in Brooklyn.

Further east, Jackie Gordon would be the first Black woman to represent a rapidly diversifying district. Discussing the importance of representation, she said that “[Hispanic and Black voters] have never seen representation ever in the history of this seat. So yes, [representation] would definitely matter to them.”

If Democrats retain control of the House, they will likely seek a national codi fication of abortion rights and an expansion

of voting rights — two policy pushes that failed in the last two years due to thin mar gins in the Senate.

According to Burgardt, the College Democrats are working with local campaigns in the area to coordinate employment and volunteer opportunities for their members.

Burgardt noted that expanding access to abortion and pushing back against the Supreme Court “makes this year’s midterm election particularly important.”

If Republicans win the House, they have promised to investigate Biden’s trou bled withdrawal from Afghanistan, push for increased funding for law enforcement agencies and provide a bully pulpit against what they perceive as oversteps of Progressives’ activism.

Adcock thinks the Republican candidates have a great chance on Long Island.

“I think COVID in a lot of ways woke people up to how mismanaged things were under Democratic leadership,” Adcock said.

Long Island is covered by four districts: two in Nassau County that are currently rep resented by Democrats, and two — including the district that covers Stony Brook — repre sented by Republicans.

Three of the four incumbent Repre sentatives are leaving the House this fall. Tom Suozzi, a Glen Cove Democrat, ran for governor in the Democratic primary, and Lee Zeldin, a Shirley Republican, is running for governor. Kathleen Rice, a Garden City Democrat, is retiring. Only Andrew Garbari no, a South Shore Republican, remains.

There is recent precedence for the competitiveness of these four races. In the 2020 presidential election, Suffolk County voted for Trump by just 232 votes and became the largest county in the nation to support him.

In the subsequent 2021 local elections, Democrats lost their grip on Nassau County when well-funded incumbent County Executive Laura Curran lost to Republican outsider Bruce Blakeman. Blakeman staked his campaign on staunch opposition to COVID-19 masking rules — an issue with far less salience this election year.

One objective measure of a candidate’s strength is polling. For local races, polling is generally sparse, and only two Long Island races have been surveyed this summer.

Congressman Andrew Garbarino leads challenger Jackie Gordon, a town of Babylon Councilwoman and the 2020 chal lenger. As of Oct. 23, polling revealed that Garbarino received 52.9% of the support, while Gordon only received 46% out of 335,163 reported votes. Meanwhile, Demo crat Robert Zimmerman leads his Republi can challenger, George Devolder-Santos, by one point as of the same date.

A majority in the House consists of 218 seats. According to simulations run by polling site FiveThirtyEight, Republicans have an 80% chance of holding the majority of House seats.

“I’m pretty confident that Long Island and New York is going to turn red this fall,” Adcock said. “I’m very hopeful.”

From left to right: Councilwoman Jackie Gordon, Representative Andrew Garbarino, Democrat Robert Zimmerman and Republican Anthony D’Esposito. They are a part of four local races on Long Island that can shift the balance of power in Congress. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO/THE STATESMAN

ILLUSTRATED BY KAT PROCACCI/THE STATESMAN

Stony Brook students scramble to finalize voting decisions

By Saad Haroon

With the 2022 midterm elections swiftly approaching, Stony Brook University is ramping up its efforts to promote voter participation among students.

Seawolves are no exception to the trend of high voter participation nationwide, as the university continues to emphasize vot ing for elections both on and off campus.

Voter turnout is up 600% in local elections and up 49% for congressional and presidential elections between 2016 and 2020, according to the Center for Civic Justice.

But despite the university’s attempts to engage with its students, there are students who plan to vote but do not know the can didates or their policies. Of seven students interviewed by The Statesman, none knew the candidates.

However, these students have clearly defined policy goals and know what they are looking for from their representatives. They ranked financial aid, taxes and inflation among the issues they wanted candidates to tackle.

Jordan Galaor, a junior health science major, said that since taxes have increased over the past few months, that would be a good start with the community.

Long Island has seen property tax hikes to fund schools, especially after the pandemic required more spending for free lunches and other essentials. Galaor’s neighborhood in New York’s 2nd Congressional District saw a 1.7% hike on property taxes.

Grace Zhao, a freshman biology major, said that she registered in Stony Brook after the Center for Civic Justice informed her about updating her registration.

“Eventually, I would have signed up for voter registration, but this definitely helped because I didn’t know where to go to sign up,” Zhao said.

Alex Castro Cruz, a freshman registered in New York’s 1st District, is looking for candidates to solve “rising food costs, inflation and healthcare.” He also plans to vote in the Undergraduate Student Govern ment (USG) general election this spring.

Cruz said he will be looking at what “they’d do to improve relations with stu dents and promote diversity.”

dent-voter participation, some remain apathetic towards the political process, both in their home district and at SBU.

“After … the two candidates [in the 2020 presidential election], I didn’t really like either one of them,” Abigail Pierre, a junior health science major, said. “I feel like voting wasn’t really worth it, so I’m contemplating if I should even vote or not.”

“I do feel like it’s kind of useless in a way, since there’s so many other things that impact who wins, and this past election, I feel like my vote made no impact so it’s not going to make a difference now.”

The gubernatorial election — related to the office of state governor — is also being held this year, with incumbent Kathy Ho chul facing Lee Zeldin. Zeldin vacated New York’s 1st Congressional District, which houses Stony Brook.

College students often vote for the first time during their freshman year, either on campus or by absentee ballot. Resident stu dents are given the option to change their voter registration to Stony Brook or remain registered at their home address.

In 2016, 53.2% of Stony Brook’s student body voted in the presidential election. However, most Stony Brook students don’t vote in the midterm elections, with only about 36.8% voting in 2018. This was a 24.1% increase from 2014, but below the 2018 voting rate for all institutions, of 39.1%.

The Center for Civic Justice, a cam pus organization formally established in 2019, has worked to increase student voter turnout by educating them on registration, voting dates and polling sites.

Other voters who were eligible in earlier elections plan to vote for the first time this year because of newer, more pressing issues.

Ronald Chao, a senior applied math and statistics major, said he did not vote in the 2020 election, but will do so in 2022.

“I’m looking for candidates to tackle climate change and foreign relations,” Chao said. “Specifically Russia and Ukraine.”

Despite the overall increase in stu

Pierre is also registered in New York’s 1st District. She felt that elected officials weren’t doing enough to fix polarization in the electorate and in Congress.

“They should tackle certain things so we feel more united,” Pierre said. “I feel like my vote matters more with the USG than with the congressional election.”

“I’m still undecided whether or not I’m going to vote,” Vincenzo Maselli, a graduate student in the accounting program, said.

This year’s race in the 1st District for representatives has Democrat Bridget Fleming running against Republican Nick LaLota for Lee Zeldin’s vacated seat. Both candidates spoke on campus at Stony Brook’s Political Science Society: LaLota on Sept. 21, and Fleming on Oct. 12.

This election is pivotal following the Su preme Court decision that overruled prec edent set by Roe v. Wade, rising inflation and the Ukranian war. The outcome of the midterm election could have vast implica tions on these issues depending on what candidates New Yorkers vote to elect.

Information provided by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). Stony Brook has been ramping up its efforts to gain more voter participation amongst students.

The Cola Lounge at the Student Union. As the midterms approach, students have ex pressed different needs and desires from their elected officials. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO/THE STATESMAN

Who’s on the ballot?

By Nithilan Rajmohan

During this year’s midterm elec tions, 35 of 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats of the House of Represent atives will be up for vote.

While there are two senators for each state, the number of representatives a state has varies by population. Representatives are granted jurisdiction over specifically drawn congressional districts, as opposed to senators who represent their entire state.

New York has 27 congressional districts, and consequently 27 seats in the House. Stony Brook falls into New York’s 1st District, which covers most of Eastern Long Island.

Midterm elections occur every two years, determining every seat in the House and one third of seats in the Senate.

SenateVoters in New York will select one senator this year, as Kirsten Gillibrand is not up for reelection. The candidates are four-term in cumbent Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Joe Pinion.

Chuck Schumer

As the Senate Majority Leader, Schumer has been a New York sena tor for four terms. He also served in the New York State Assembly and House of Representatives.

In his campaign, Schumer asserts that he works to attain economic growth by supporting do mestic manufacturing, infrastructure development, research funding and high-tech start-ups.

While in office, Schumer created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, an act that grants $2,500 in tax credit each year to middle-class college students and their families who may be struggling to pay for higher education. Schum er also emphasized the importance of affordable high-quality education to all Americans.

Schumer also intends to strengthen the Superfund clean-up program, a federal initiative that cleans contaminated land and water around the nation.

With crime, Schumer claims to take a tough stance with addressing illegal weapons trade to expanding the Drug Enforcement Adminis tration, a federal law enforcement agency which combats drug traffick ing and distribution.

In an effort to further these goals, he helped pass the Urban Area Security Initiative, the Transpor tation Security and Port Security Grant and the Securing the Cities grant program, all of which provide funding in order to protect against terrorism.

Alyssa Cornell, a freshman majoring in psychology, voted for Schumer using an absentee ballot.

“I know that he lines up more with my views as the democratic candidate,” Cornell said. “He’s pro-choice, which is a big thing especially right now with everything going on in the Supreme Court.

I know that I live in the city, so I would be okay even if something were to happen, but it is comforting to know there is a politician who is high up that will protect my rights.”

Schumer released a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He also voted in favor of bills such as the Women’s Health Pro tections Act, which would allow women access to abortions in nearly any circumstance.

However, not all of Schumer’s stances agree with Cornell’s values.

“There are certain things that I disagree with him on, like the death penalty,” Cornell said.

In 1994, Schumer wrote and sponsored H.R.4032, a bill that expanded usage of the death penal ty. Years later, Schumer expressed verbal support of usage of the death penalty for a suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing.

“But as a whole, I just think that because of the fact that I line up more with the viewpoints of Democrats, we line up more in terms of most things,” Cornell said. “He was very vocally anti-Trump, which I appreciated, and he did a lot of work towards ending the gen der pay gap as well, which I think is very important.”

According to Schumer’s website, women were still making only 82 cents on the dollar compared to men for doing the same work in 2021, and the “pay disparity is even larger for women of color.”

Schumer backed and expressed support of the Paycheck Fairness and Equity Act, which would work to close the disparity in wages between men and women.

ening Medicare, sustainable hunting and fishing practices and drug rehabilitation programs.

Joe Pinion

Schumer’s opponent, Joe Pinion, is the first Black nominee for a Senate position in the state’s history. He is a self-proclaimed grassroots politician, who seeks to “push back against career corporate politicians.”

Before running for the Senate, Pinion was the director for youth development at Morris Height Health Center and worked as a po litical news commentator, appearing on talk shows and public networks.

On his ticket, Pinion prioritizes addressing poverty that working-class New Yorkers face by addressing the cost of higher education and student loan debt.

He proposed tying university tuition costs to earning potential, with punitive measures taken on their tax-exempt status if the price was inflated. He also expressed in terest in possibly canceling student loan debt, as well as recuperation for those who already paid it.

Pinion also claims to advocate for healthcare and non-governmen tal clean energy solutions.

Prediction

Both candidates must vie for votes across the entire state in order to get elected.

“When figuring out who is going to win an election, the most important factor is partisanship of the potential voters,” Professor John Barry Ryan, director of under graduate studies for political science at Stony Brook University, said.

“New York State is overwhelmingly Democratic; so, there is basically no chance Schumer loses. Schumer is running ads with the hope of driv ing up turnout among Democrats who might otherwise not vote because the senate race is a foregone conclusion.”

Charles Joseph Burgardt, a junior majoring in history and polit ical science, echoes this sentiment. Burgardt also serves as secretary of Stony Brook’s College Democrats.

BY TIM GIORLANDO

Schumer stresses the importance of combatting terrorism while also protecting the privacy of citizens.

Other issues Schumer values are benefits and services for veterans, canceling student loan debt, addressing climate change, strength

“I don’t think Pinion stands a chance against Schumer, who has been in office since 1999,” Burgardt said in an email to The Statesman. “Pinion’s name has never been mentioned in the various polit ical groups I’m in, which leads me to believe his campaign is at a disadvantage.”

Republican Joe Pinion. A former political journalist, the candidate is making history as the first Black senate nominee for a major political party in New York. ILLUSTRATED

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The fourterm senator is hoping to keep his seat and the Democratic majority on Nov 8. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO

House

The incumbent representative for New York’s 1st District, Re publican Lee Zeldin, is currently running for governor of New York. This leaves the seat open for two new candidates: Democratic nomi nee Bridget Fleming and Republi can nominee Nick LaLota.

Bridget Fleming

A former attorney and South ampton town councilwoman, Flem ing now serves as a Suffolk County legislator. Fleming is affiliated with the Democratic party, but says she values working with both parties.

According to her campaign, she intends to go after “price gouging” by oil companies as well as supply chain disruptions while promoting domestic trade and manufacturing.

Another issue she plans to address is the rising cost of housing and higher education.

Fleming believes eliminat ing the cap on state and local tax deductions could help middle class Americans attain more tax relief, while wealthy individuals and cor porations receive less.

Additionally, Fleming says she will support the For the People Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which are aimed at expanding voting rights. The former also tar gets gerrymandering and monetary influence in politics.

Long Island would also move towards using more solar and wind energy under Fleming’s representa tion, with lowered energy costs for residents and well-paying jobs for workers in transition. In addition, she aims to protect Long Island’s coastal regions from weather, and its aquifer — the only drinking water source — by implementing programs to combat nitrogen and surface-water pollution.

Funding would increase money to mental health services in order to provide additional counseling and care programs. She also aims to increase funding to the police, who would be required to wear body cameras in order to enable more transparency.

Fleming plans to strengthen education programs through sup porting early childhood programs, providing alternatives to college and lessening the financial burden on college students.

“I will advocate for our nation’s students from the day they enter school to the day they graduate,” Fleming said on her campaign website.

Fleming also values increasing gun control, fair working wages, national security, social security and access to safe and legal abortions, birth control and contraceptives.

“Fleming could be best described as a moderate Democrat running on a platform that promotes reproductive rights, probably the most significant and prominent element of her cam paign,” Burgardt said in an email to The Statesman. “[Her platform] protects the environment, increases healthcare coverage to disadvan taged Americans, and encourages economic aid in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Nick LaLota

The Republican nominee for the House, Nick LaLota, is a former naval officer who moved to politics after retirement. He served on the Amityville Board of Trustees and the Committee to the Police Department, and is now chief of staff to the Suffolk County Legislature.

According to LaLota’s website, New York gets 93 cents back for every dollar it pays in federal taxes. With this, he expressed plans to increase federal funding to improve Long Island’s infrastructure.

Ray Chen, vice president of Stony Brook’s College Republicans, supports this stance.

“More federal money could be used for New York’s roads and infrastructure, which is essential to the island but currently not of the best quality,” Chen said. “We should be focused on trying to get more of Congress’s funds. Federal taxes should be used to get our roads and bridges in a better condition.”

To create more affordable healthcare, LaLota stated that he will work with both the Repub lican and Democratic elects. He plans to lower the cost of pre scription drugs, require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, allow Medicare to negotiate prices for members over the age of 65 and enable greater transparency in the pricing of medical bills.

“What most people assume is that Republicans are in favor of ‘Big Pharma’ and raising drug prices,” Chen said. “But contrary to this, LaLota is doing his best to work with both parties in lower ing drug costs and keeping insur ance companies from hurting the average American with things like exuberant medical bills and failing to cover pre-exist ing conditions.”

Economically, LaLota believes that promoting domestic manufac turing would limit inflation. He also emphasized the safe extraction of America’s oil and natural gas reserves that would reduce energy prices.

This measure “will decrease the price of gasoline and other essen tial goods for the people of Long Island,” said Chen.

LaLota expressed the intention of shrinking the size and spending of the government by passing a balanced budget.

LaLota also supports the Protect and Serve Act, which would make police nationwide a protected group for the purpose of limiting violence against police officers.

Other issues LaLota supports are banning second and third trimester abortions, requiring voter identification, limiting absentee ballots, limiting “the suppression of conservative news” and looser gun restrictions.

Prediction

Professor Ryan offered his comments on both of the House candidates as well.

“Typically, we see Democrats and Republicans taking different sides on the issues. However, both these candidates — and Congressman Lee Zeldin before them — all have the same position on raising the cap on how much of a deduction on their federal taxes people can take because of the state and local taxes they are paying,” Ryan said.

He attributed the candidates’ similarities to the fact that New Yorkers pay higher taxes than resi dents of many other states. Raising the cap on federal tax deduction means that New York residents would have more money to spend.

“That overcomes ideological differences,” Ryan said.

While the candidates take differing stances on issues such as abortion and gun legislation, they also both prioritize decreasing the cost of living and tax burdens that New Yorkers face.

Ryan reflected on each candidates’ chances of winning the election.

“The 1st Congressional District has a pretty even mix of Democrats and Republicans, but generally has more Republicans than Democrats,” Ryan said. “Neither candidate has been in volved in a major scandal. Neither candidate has embraced the more extreme elements of their party. So, LaLota probably wins narrowly.”

Councilwoman Bridget Fleming. The Democrat will be competing for New York’s 1st Congressional District. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO

Councilman Nick LaLota. The Republican is hoping to take representative Lee Zeldin’s seat in the upcoming election. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO

Center for Civic Justice hosts community dialogue to prepare students for midterm elections

By Sonya Gugliara

The Center for Civic Justice (CCJ) hosted its first community dialogue of the semester to inform students about the up coming midterm elections and the national debt issue.

The event, Midterm Elections and the Long-Term Effects, took place on Wednes day, Oct. 19 in the Union ballroom and had about 50 attendees.

In collaboration with Up to Us — a campus campaign focused on educating college students on economic sustainability — the CCJ planned this event to prepare and encourage students to vote.

Attendees were incentivized to attend through offered credit towards the fulfill ment of Democracy-101, a CCJ program that encourages civic engagement. Sorority and fraternity members could receive an hour of community service for the Inter-Fraternity

with other CCJ interns, conducted the pres entation as well.

The dialogue featured a slideshow pres entation that outlined midterm elections, candidates and key terms. The presentation was interactive, with a Kahoot — an applica tion that allows many people to compete to answer a question correctly — incorporated to get the audience involved.

The presentation broke down the voting process and options that students have for voting, including alternatives like absentee ballots and early in-person voting.

CCJ members hosting the event periodi cally prompted the audience to break off into groups to discuss among themselves. There were guided questions provided on the tables students were seated at.

These questions encouraged group mem bers to talk about what they had learned

Island, but nationally. Every vote counts towards what party will take control of the House.

“I think that, unfortunately, not a lot of students pay attention to the elections,” Rachel Alexandre, a sophomore globaliza tion and international relations major and CCJ intern, said. “Just because we’ve all just recently turned 18, we’re just very young, so voting in general is a very new thing to all of us, so it can be difficult.”

America’s youngest voters generally have the lowest voter turnout in midterm elections out of all age groups. In 2018, only 30.1% of people ages 18 to 24 voted in midterm elec tions, which was below the national average of 49% voter turnout.

The CCJ works to combat this statistic. According to Julia Brandenstein, a graduate student coordinator of CCJ, the center

[they] are constantly overshadowed by big, sensational politics.”

This comprehensive overview of the election also filled students desires for more information on who they will be voting for.

“It helped me to get an idea, especially through these brochures, what do each of the candidates stand for,” Krishnan said.

He admitted that he did not know much about each of the candidates prior to the presentation. Afterwards, however, he was able to come to political conclusions.

“Maybe Joe Pinion might be a good Senate representative,” Krishnan reasoned.

The CCJ leads university efforts in getting students involved in the democratic process. They attend freshman orientation, transfer orientation and frequently hold tabling events around campus in order to ensure that students are registered to vote.

and Sorority Council (IFSC), and attendance also counted towards first-year requirements for freshmen.

Anirudh Krishnan, a sophomore biomed ical engineering major, attended the event out of genuine interest in politics.

“I would like to be more informed about what are the stakes of the midterm elections,” Krishnan said. “I came to this because I like to hear different people’s viewpoints.”

The dialogue began around 7 p.m. with Ashley Mercado-Ortiz, the CCJ Director, introducing herself and the night’s events. Anastasia Poulos, the CCJ’s student team leader and undergraduate coordinator, along

in the presentation, as well as their own political opinions.

Questions such as “Do you feel like you have an adequate understanding of each candidates’ platforms?” and “What qualities do you look for in a candidate, and which qualities do you avoid?” opened up political conversations among attendees.

“I think the dialogue gives people the opportunity to express what they think and really discuss it with other people in a safe environment,” Beth Gatto, a freshman history major, said.

This community dialogue comes at a time when the midterm elections could re sult in major political shifts not only in Long

has registered over 30,000 students to vote since 2016.

After the midterm elections and candi dates were discussed, the presentation shifted to teaching the audience about America’s national debt.

This section defined national debt as “the amount of money the federal govern ment has borrowed to cover the outstanding balance of expenses incurred over time.” It also connected national debt to student debt, which directly affects the student body.

“I do appreciate that they went over not just like the social issues but also the financial issues,” Farria Ashfaq, a junior studying communications, said. “I feel like

“The community dialogue is easily one of the largest events we plan every single year and every single semester,” Brandenstein said.

Brandenstein discussed an event on media literacy that the CCJ hosted this se mester. At the event, students learned how to navigate through everything they see in the media “in order to help students understand what factual sources look like.”

“The Center for Civic Justice is one of the, or the, department on campus which works to empower students to get out there and engage in the democratic process,” Bran denstein said. “We do everything that we can in order to do that.”

Members of Center for Civic Justice presenting at the community dialogue in the Union ballroom on Oct 19. Centered on midterms and the national debt, the event was meant to encourage voter participation and engagement on current issues. SONYA GUGLIARA/THE STATESMAN

Opinions

Let’s face it: Trump’s coming back (in spirit)

By Tim Giorlando

I wish most of this piece was provid ing an analytical, foolproof nail in Donald Trump’s coffin, getting him away from our political scene once and for all. I wish I could say all of the candidates Trump endorsed this year lost tremendously, or that the policies he ran on in 2016 and 2020 are no longer popular in 2022. However, candi dates who impersonate his rhetoric usually make it to the general election, clearly indi cating that the seven years Trump has been relevant aren’t a temporary stint.

Folks, what we’re looking at is the start of a new GOP, and they’re leaving Trump behind in spite of adopting his most radical policies.

Sure, Trump has had a few failures this primary season, with the most high-profile being Madison Cawthorn’s em barrassing primary loss in North Carolina. Another glorious defeat for the Trump train was none other than David Perdue, who, after infamously losing his seat against Democrat John Ossoff in Georgia’s 2021 runoff election, took a loss to incumbent Brian Kemp for Georgia’s governor seat this year.

But these small glimmers of weakness were few and far between. For the most part, Trump-endorsed candidates ap pear on November’s ballots in spades.

To see how his performance has been this primary season, we can simply look at our wondrous Ballotpedia and observe all the endorsements Trump has given out. And he’s been giving them out, expanding his endorsement effort two-fold since his 2020 re-election bid. Two hundred forty candidates received the Trump seal of approval in the primaries, and another 230 Republicans will be sporting the tag heading into the midterms. He also has an astonishingly high success rate; 92% of primary candidates endorsed by Trump have moved on to face their Demo cratic opponents.

You’d think that with these increased numbers, Trump has hand-selected each endorsement carefully. It would only make sense for one of the most high-profile figures in American politics to endorse individuals without going trigger-happy and careless with them.

But the only way I can describe his ra tionale for selecting his candidates, however, is nothing more than a coin flip.

Trump’s endorsement strategy for this year was to play the luck of the draw; he’ll announce on his social media pages that he has not yet decided who to endorse. Some times he’ll be incredibly vague, such as his pick of ‘Eric’ in a Missouri Senate race that

featured exclusively candidates named ‘Eric.’ It’s just as much of Trump wanting to select the right endorsement as much as the candi dates are vying for his.

What’s worse about this highly thoughtover method is that some of Trump’s picks have been, to put it lightly, questionable.

His selection of the ‘Eric’ genus in Missouri was done in part because former governor Eric Greitens has been accused of multiple instances of sexual assault, making many consider him a weak competitor in November. Madison Cawthorn was caught on video engaging in taboo sexual acts that many in the GOP found offensive, on top of his unsubstantiated claims that top-rank ing Capitol Hill officials engaged in cocainefilled orgies. Herschel Walker has come

the vice presidential nominee of the late John McCain.

So from the outside, these endorsements seem to work as intended; it’s almost as if any candidate, no matter their qualifications, just needs Trump’s endorsement to catapult themselves to the general election.

But what’s most baffling is that this isn’t the case.

Many of these candidates were the popular choice anyway. Most of Trump’s picks were incumbents, and according to NPR, nearly three-fourths of those were expected to win regardless of the endorse ment. One can argue that Trump’s open primary success rate attests to his power in the GOP, as 91% of his open primary endorsements won their race. But taking a

sayers. Believe it or not, even the Repub licans who despise him actually love what Donald Trump represents. They agree with him on practically every issue, from election misinformation to abortion disintegration, anti-LGBT legislation and middle-class oppression: what we’re seeing is the next Reagan Revolution.

An even more concerning commonality amongst Trump’s picks is that they all deny the 2020 election results. And what’s worse? The party is eating it up. According to a Uni versity of Massachusetts poll conducted be fore the primary season, 71% of Republicans still believe Biden stole the 2020 Presidential Election, and a majority of Republicans pre fer candidates that espouse the ‘Big Lie.’

What we’re seeing in mainstream politics are the symptoms of popu list authoritarianism gaining steam with general audiences. Though it was introduced as watered-down identity politics early on in 2016, the years have slowly enriched the GOP with a near-fascist agenda many new candidates are beginning to cling themselves onto.

under fire throughout his entire campaign, including controversy over a report that he urged his ex-girlfriend to receive an abor tion in 2011 with their now 10-year-old son, a child who has come out to say he’s been neglected by the former NFL star. He’s now one of the most staunch opponents to abor tion access this primary season.

Some other interesting endorsements include TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is in a tight race with Democratic candidate John Fetterman for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat.

Oz has repeatedly been making gaffs along the campaign trail, with some of the most notable being a Twitter video in which he talks about the rising costs of ‘crudité’ and his campaign repeatedly insulting the health of his Democratic opponent after Fetterman suffered a near-fatal stroke earlier this year.

Matt Gaetz was under fire early last year after being under FBI Investigation for sex trafficking minors. Fellow House candi date Sarah Palin has been a controversial candidate since she was selected to be

closer look at their campaigns, many of these candidates were already in position to win, making his endorsement less powerful than it initially seemed.

We’re not even considering the 54 races that were unopposed, inflating Trump’s suc cess rate by nearly 25%.

So even though it appears that Trump’s endorsements are swaying elections, it’s likely that his chosen candidates would have been likely to win even without the endorse ment, just because they’re using his rhetoric.

So then what is even the point of the endorsement? If most don’t change the outcome, why bother selecting candidates? What we’re forgetting here is the essence and original purpose of an endorsement. It shows solidarity: solidarity with a party that has now adopted Trump’s policies, and one that is open to the ideas brought out by far-right fringe groups and embraces overtly discrimi natory behavior.

Trump’s selection process has been nothing more than a pandering to his most ardent supporters and his Republican nay

Trump’s endorsement success rate shows that the GOP is trying to move away from Trump without ditching his ideas. Like so much of the modern day GOP, the rise of Trump wasn’t of the man, but of the beliefs that caught on with individuals fed up with Obama’s neoliberalism. He came down the escalator at the perfect time where economic inequity was at a turning point and culture wars became dominant on social media, an inflection many saw as detrimental to the country at large.

Trump wasn’t loved because he was a brilliant politician, or because he was a philanthropic man or even because of his bombastic personality. Because he is so con troversial, it is safe to say Republican leaders don’t mind him taking a backseat while his ideas live on.

What people admired in him was his ability to represent the rebellion of white supremacists in the face of a diversifying and inclusive nation, unloading a cascade of grievances the white population has with the thought of a homosexual couple having a family, or with uplifting a poor Black family in the inner cities.

Pretty soon, these comments of hatespeech and conservative extremism will just be a part of the lyricism of the GOP. And these endorsed candidates are merely the fu ture party transitioning to something unseen in our recent political history.

So no, Trump’s not coming back. But his rhymes will be the earworms of our lifetime.

A graphic of the Jan. 6 insurrection featuring, from left to right: former Georgia Governor Eric Greitens, Dr. Mehmet Oz, former President Donald Trump, Representative Matthew Gaetz and Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Over 92% of primary candidates endorsed by Trump have moved on to the general election. ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO/THE STATESMAN

Ranked choice voting can solve the two-party system’s issues

By Sara McGiff

For a capitalist country that promotes choice in its consumers — whether it’s an ice cream flavor or brands of allergy medi cation — the lack of choice in our nation’s representatives should be causing outrage across the aisle. New York stands to benefit from an alternative political system called ranked-choice voting (RCV), which can offer solutions to the state’s problems.

RCV uses ballots that allow voters to rank as many of their preferences as they see fit. It is meant to encourage voters to choose the candidate they identify with rather than the individuals who will win, which usually means a candidate from the two party system.

Voters are exhausted by the partisan two-party system; it has become a common theme in U.S. elections to have to choose between bad or worse elected officials.

The two-party electoral system has created an illusion of choice. Two people are supposed to represent two overarching political parties, meant to represent all of the ideals of people on either side. If your values aren’t represented by either party, then you lack the ability to have your vote represented in Congress and are faced with the expectation that you’ll vote for the lesser evil. Just look at the Trump v. Biden election in 2020 where the stance “anyone but Trump” reigned true for voters.

Don’t believe me? A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that the negative sentiment present in opposing parties’ policies was a major factor in why individuals chose to stay with either the Democratic or Republican parties. How ever, 39% of respondents said they wanted more political parties to choose from.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is an example of what voting for the lesser evil looks like. When going up against Congressman Lee Zeldin, an anti-abortion Republican who rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election, it’s an easy guess who will win blue New York.

Hochul and her administration have had several controversies since assum ing the governor position from Andrew Cuomo, who resigned from office following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. Hochul’s lieutenant governor, Brian Benja min, was indicted by federal prosecutors in mid-April on charges of bribery, allegedly using his status to procure a state-funded grant in exchange for campaign contribu tions. Hochul herself admitted that their vetting system was flawed — this admission undermined her pledge to root out corrup tion in Albany.

Earlier this year, Hochul made another questionable decision when she used tax payer money to fund a billion-dollar deal with the Buffalo Bills football team for a new stadium. Unfortunately for her, 55% of New Yorkers across all demographics disagreed with this decision.

Coincidentally enough, this deal can be seen as a conflict of interest. Buffalo is Hochul’s hometown and her husband, William Hochul, is the senior vice pres ident of Delaware North. The food and beverage concessions company has been a major concessionaire at Highmark Stadium — the home of the Buffalo Bills — since 1992.

Still, Hochul is neck and neck with Zeldin, who has also made questionable decisions during his time representing New York’s 1st District. In 2015, he spoke at a conference held by the Long Island Chapter of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia with numerous members indicted for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

The Founding Fathers warned against the creation of political parties. In George Washington’s farewell address, he predicted that political parties would become “potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to sub vert the power of the people and to usurp themselves the reins of government, de stroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Extreme personalities have dominated the two major parties. For example, Donald Trump’s infiltration into the Republican Party has fundamentally radicalized the values of the party.

His appeal was due to his personality rather than the party he represented — 33%

don’t align with their beliefs without the fear that their vote doesn’t even count?

In ranked-choice voting, voters rank the candidates according to preference. When electing a single candidate, all first votes are tallied. If a candidate wins a majority among the first candidate votes, then they win. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated. The second choices from those ballots are added to the remaining candidates then the system continues until one candidate receives the majority of the final votes.

RCV also promotes broader representa tion, with candidates of color gaining in the round-by-round counting process more than white candidates, and women winning 48% of all municipal ranked choice elec tions. In Maine, this system will continue through the 2022 election and be applica ble for state legislative primaries.

In New York, we would stand to benefit from an RCV system in our midterm elec tions. In 2020, 34% of U.S. voters identi fied as independent, but in New York the only parties that are recognized to vote are Democrat, Republican, Working Families, Conservative and write-in parties, but they are recognized as a party affiliation. An RCV system would promote these voters to rank their preferred candidate first without feeling that their vote is wasted.

RCV has been implemented in New York City in primary and special elections for local offices since 2019 with 73.5% of voters supporting this system. The outcome of this system had 88.3% of voters who ranked for more than one candidate for at least one office on their ballot and led to the most diverse city council in the city’s history.

The RCV system would help the rising number of people who are discontent with our political system. According to The New York Times, 58% of those interviewed stated that they believe our political system doesn’t work. How could we fault this view when, in New York alone, we’ve had multiple scandals in the past decade that undermined the integrity of our democracy.

During the current midterm election, his campaign team had 11,000 signatures pho tocopied as a part of the petition to get him on the Independence Party line.

Because no third-party politicians were listed, these candidates were the only op tion. This is because Cuomo made chang es to the ballot access laws that made it fundamentally more difficult for third party candidates to get on the ballot. The changes required triple the number of signatures required for groups, and mandated that political parties have to qualify every two years instead of every four.

In shorter terms, only those who are well-connected economically and politically are able to get on the ballot.

of Republican voters said they stand with Trump rather than with the Republi can Party.

Not only does an electoral duopoly allow for extremists to infiltrate parties, it also encourages societal polarization. Both parties have become increasingly di vided, widening the chasm between the left and right. Voter alienation has motivated significant amounts of absenteeism during election time. On the flip-side, voting for non-competitive third party candidates is found to occur as an expression of political distrust or disdain for a candidate.

How can the system promote voters to choose a third-party candidate that aligns with their values if the main two parties

From Senator Brian Benjamin, former Governor Eliot Spitzer, Lt. Governor David Paterson, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Democratic Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, it’s no wonder that faith in the political system is at an all-time low.

RCV allows voters to select multiple candidates across all parties, which gives the voter more choices and allows them to be more engaged in our political system. Instead of voting for the lesser evil, the system promotes contentment between the voter and the selected candidate — even if they aren’t the person you voted for.

The official logos for the Democratic and Republican Parties. Unpopular candidates from the two major U.S. political parties have thrown into question the power the institutions have.

ILLUSTRATED BY TIM GIORLANDO/THE STATESMAN

New York should be preparing for the “red wave”

By Sonya Gugliara

I recently spoke with Stony Brook College Republicans President Sara Adcock about her thoughts on the upcoming mid term elections.

Adcock optimistically proclaimed her prediction for the election outcomes. “I see already, a big push, and people trying to help towards that ‘red wave,’ and I think that we might really be seeing it this fall.”

As someone who tends to sway liberal in her beliefs, I was amused by Adcock’s use of the term “red wave.” I (incorrectly) thought it was ridiculous — New York is a blue state — and I brushed off her com ment without a second thought.

I did not think about the conversation again until the morning of Oct. 23, when I read a Politico article revealing that Lee Zeldin — a Republican — has a solid chance at replacing Kathy Hochul, New York’s current Democratic governor. Upon reading this news, I realized that Adcock’s use of the phrase “red wave” was not some preposterous buzzword, but a fair reflection of the current state of New York politics.

Democrats make up 49.8% of regis tered voters in New York, while Republi cans only make up 22.2%. Knowing these statistics, the “red wave” sounds implau sible. However, there is evidently a quiet group of voters creeping over to the other party. This change comes not as a result of complete view shifts, but out of an increase in single-issue voting — when voters choose

a candidate solely based on one stance or belief — in light of unprecedented rates of inflation.

It is this quiet shift that poses the largest threat to Democrats’ reign over New York politics and jeopardizes women’s rights in a state known for protecting them. Zeldin, for example, is notoriously known for voting for restrictions on abortion rights. Although Zeldin recently explained

care accessible. He also told anti-abortion group New York Right to Life that he would support their efforts to get rid of the Reproductive Health Act, which “provides a fundamental right to choose contraception and the right of a female to determine the course of a pregnancy” and “decriminalizes abortion.” If Zeldin becomes the gover nor of New York, he could wage a war on reproductive rights.

recent months, but New Yorkers are still feeling the strain of inflation, making promises of economic recovery inherently appealing.

Zeldin’s plans to cut taxes and stimulate the economy come across as a glimmer of hope, adding to the GOP’s allure.

This “red wave” comes at a very unfor tunate time for women. Voters must look beyond financial issues — the single issue that some voters are choosing to vote based on — and prioritize the protection of abortion rights.

With the way this election seems to be trending, it is unlikely that New Yorkers will come to their senses and vote in favor of women. The only thing that supporters of reproductive rights can do is brace them selves for the storm.

If Zeldin takes office and his policies directly infringe on abortion rights, we have to be prepared to fight — nonviolently, of course — not just for the right to choose, but the right for women to speak for themselves. We have to inform those who don’t understand the severity of this situa tion so that we never find ourselves in this position again.

in an ad that he “will not change, and could not change New York’s abortion law,” his track record and actions suggest otherwise.

Zeldin voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, which protects reproductive rights and makes abortion

Nevertheless, financial issues are voters’ top concern this election. New York, like the rest of the country, is suffering the financial repercussions of the pandemic. Inflation rates this month are nearly double what they were last year. Employment rates have increased in

The entirety of this Roe v. Wade disas ter represents how little this country values the women who live in it. For New Yorkers who pride themselves on living in a state that supports women, Zeldin makes the realness of the digression and dismissal of women’s rights unignorable.

An image of the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, N.Y. Polls indicate that the normally blue state could elect a Republican governor. JOSEPH/FLICKER VIA LICENSE

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editor

Portnoy

Procacci

Flowers

Saxena

Navarro

Anderson

Kelley

We need to treat polls with skepticism

By Viyang Hao

Public opinion polling is a staple of elec tions. It’s plastered onto cable news, newspapers and social media, making it hard to escape hearing about poll results. While it’s fine to survey registered voters to see what the public thinks about certain political candidates and issues, polls don’t tell the whole story. People need to utilize skepticism and critical thinking in order to gain a deeper understanding of poli tics and what poll results really mean.

History should teach us that polls don’t always make the right call. We need to ap proach electoral polls more critically.

However, this ignores the population of Americans who do not answer their phone calls and are more likely to check text messag es. Therefore, the chance of bias occurring is not completely diminished.

There are still different ways that the public is polled, regardless of these guidelines. CNN and Fox News survey people over the phone, while CBS News and Politico use an online format. Google Surveys asks users to answer certain questions and factors in their brows ing activity to determine their demographic.

Multimedia Editor

Copy Chief

Audience Engagement

Assistant News Editor

Giorlando

Sena

Pabon

Gugliara

Assistant Arts & Culture Editor...........Sydney Riddle

Assistant Sports Editor..............................Matt Howlin

Assistant Opinions Editor...................Anya Marquardt

Assistant Multimedia Editor.................Brittney Dietz

Assistant Multimedia Editor..................Camron Wang

Assistant Multimedia Editor...............Francesca Mevs

Assistant Copy Editor.......................... Abbigail Stanley

Assistant Copy Editor..................................Olivia Erndl

Assistant Audience Engagement McKenzie Post

Contact Us

To contact the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editors about organizational comments, questions, suggestions, corrections or photo permission, email editors@sbstatesman.com.

The Statesman is a student-run, student-written incor porated publication at Stony Brook University in New York. The paper was founded as The Sucolian in 1957 at Oyster Bay, the original site of Stony Brook University. In 1975, The Statesman was incorporated as a not-for-prof it, student-run organization. Its editorial board, writers and multimedia staff are all student volunteers.

The Statesman and its editors have won several awards for student journalism and several past editors have gone on to enjoy distinguished careers in the field of journalism.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in columns or in the Letters and Opinions section are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Statesman

For more Statesman content, visit us at sbstatesman.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @sbstatesman.

The U.S. midterm elections are currently underway, and many polls are offering differing projections about whether we will experience an influx of Democratic or Republican candi dates. The chances of these polls being accurate isn’t a certainty, as polls can sometimes distrib ute incorrect results based on a plethora of fac tors. It is a gamble the public takes by believing these projections.

Even with a scientific approach (e.g. ran dom sampling) to political polling, polls have still at times failed to gauge the winners for elections, with a recent notable example being the 2016 presidential election. National and state polls told completely different stories when predicting the winner of this election than what the true results were.

Regarding the 2016 election, national polls were called “generally correct” in a report con ducted by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), but state polls largely overestimated the power of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, especially in swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It helped generate and perpetuate the idea of Clinton winning the presidency. But, when the time came, Trump won all three of those swing states and ultimately the presidency.

The lack of standardization within the polling industry is worrisome. There have been some general guidelines on how to sample. One practice used by pollsters is random digit dialing. Pollsters can randomly select area code numbers and generate the rest of the 10 digits of a phone number. This is done to prevent sampling bias, as any American with a phone is subject to being surveyed.

FiveThirtyEight’s Advanced Plus-Minus, a statistic to evaluate the performance of pollsters, found online surveys like Google’s were typically inaccurate due to its experimen tal nature and inclusion of browsing activity.

These disparities may no longer be an issue in the future, as pollsters are beginning to make changes to their methods as a result of failing to predict recent election outcomes. One of the main focuses is to connect to more Amer icans by using non-traditional methods.

Traditional methods included contacting someone through a landline, but as more Americans are relying less on landlines and more on cell phones, pollsters may begin to send text messages. This draws attention to the question of why pollsters did not change their methodology earlier. By the end of 2016, about 95% of American adults owned a cell phone. That statistic grew, as of February 2021, to 97% of American adults. The fact that pollsters are just now changing their methodology to adapt to the changing technological landscape of the United States illustrates how out of touch the polling industry is. This is a significant way that the 2016 polling catastrophe could have been avoided.

People can forget that public polls and the pollsters running them are deeply flawed. Giv en how much unnecessary attention poll results are given by the news media, it can be easy to become a victim of fear-mongering. It strays far away from logic and reasoning, something we desperately need to have right now. Awareness and acknowledgment should be the goals people strive for when it comes to determining what the public opinion is. Skepticism and critical thinking provide the foundation for how we should react to polling results.

Voting access needs to be improved across the U.S.

By Jennifer Ojilere

Some states continue to suppress voters with restrictive bills limiting access to mail and absentee voting. Since every American experiences the voting process differently, not ever single law works for everyone. At the same time, there are ways to improve voting access across the United States.

The Brennan Center for Justice says that more than 361 bills restrict ing voting access have been introduced in 47 states. Since 2020’s baseless allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, many state legislators have enforced restrictive bills on voting access. Some bills take aim at absentee voting, while nearly a quarter seek stricter voter ID requirements.

Texas, Georgia and Arizona have introduced a combined 97 bills re stricting voting in one way or another. For example, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 202 into law, lim iting “absentee voting by requiring voters to provide a state identification number or photocopy of an identifying document.”

Arkansas has also tightened its voter ID requirements. The previous ID law allowed for those without identification to receive a provisional ballot, but the new bill HB 1112 has eliminated this.

Now, voters have six days to go to a county clerk’s office with identification in order for their ballot to go through.

Some states have begun to im plement different voter policies that appeal to their communities. Colo rado, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Utah are some of the states that allow their general elections to be run entirely by mail. The need for such a form of voting drastically increased because of the 2020 COVID-19 pan demic.

Unfortunately, these voting policies are not implemented in all 50 states.

For example, seven states — Ar kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming — do not provide an online voter registration option, and instead require voters to register by mail or in-person. This bars many voters in these largely rural states from voting, as they live far from their municipal, county clerk’s office or post office.

Instead, states should pass auto matic voter registration bills, which automatically registers eligible adults to vote. Elected officials should also look into passing online voter registration for their citizens, allowing them to — with proper identification — register to vote on a computer.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia use automatic voter registra tion. New York is expected to imple ment the Automatic Voter Registration Act into law between the years of 2023 and 2025.

Congress introduced the Automatic Voter Registration Act in 2021, which still remains a bill. This bill would allow citizens to be automatically regis tered to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles. It also offers the individual a 21-calendar day period to opt out of automatic voter registration. Nonetheless, there is some back lash to the implementation of this act. While elected officials in support of the act argue that automatic voter reg istration promotes civic participation, the opposing side argues that it poses a threat to the integrity of elections by increasing the likelihood of ineligible voter participation.

Online voter registration follows essentially the same process as paperbased voting; instead of filling out a paper application, the voter fills out a form on a website, which is then submitted electronically to elec tion officials.

However, this progressive policy is not nationally expansive. While New York has offered online voter

registration since 2019, many other states still require filling out a paper application.

With a lack of nearby electoral offices in most communities, state legislators need to take into consid eration alternative methods in which an individual can register both swiftly and effectively. There are more ways legislators can better serve those who cannot physically get to voting booths.

To make voting easier from the comfort of one’s home, state legislators should advocate for absentee voting, particularly for disabled voters who need accommodations. Some states have begun enacting “no-excuse absen tee voting,” which lets voters receive a mail-in ballot without needing to give an excuse.

While great strides have been made in voter registration, there’s still more work to do on voting access. America should continue to strive for voter access for all its citizens, from those who cannot make it to the polling booths to those who forgot to renew their ID and could not register. We should implement accessible voting options nationwide. Hopefully, Ameri cans will see a brighter future for vot ing after the upcoming midterms and a clearer representation of our votes.