YOUNG DEMOCRATS RETURN
Club aims to get students involved in politics
PHILIP ROTONDO
ONLINE FEATURES EDITOR
F ollowing a year of operating online, the
oung Democrats are finally meeting
in person again. With the general election
coming up, the Young Democrats see a good
opportunity to get students active in politics,
encouraging them to vote and get involved
in events.
“[We want] to get individuals at our school
involved in the political process, meaning
getting people who are eligible out to vote
and holding organized events like phone
banks and meetings with our rival school,
Langley. It really gets students engaged,” said
senior Aria Huffman, a club board member.
Despite their name, the Young Democrats
try to exist more as an educational institution
than a political one.
“The purpose of the Young Democrats
club is to educate the students of McLean on
democratic issues in our country and to keep
students involved in politics,” Huffman said.
Although most club members have similar
political views, the club is not exclusive about
ideologies.
“We are called the Young Democrats,
but we have members who are very, very
moderate and we have members who are
very, very far to the left,” Huffman said.
“There are a lot of disagreements that go on
in our club.”
One of the club’s goals is to keep such
disagreements productive, focusing on
Ways students can get involved in politics:
Volunteer with political groups
Join clubs at school
Stay up to date on local and national news
Have healthy debates and discussons with peers
18 | FEATURES | OCTOBER 2021
sharing ideas rather than being toxic and
aggressive.
“We saw that in our meetings last year,
especially [those] with big turnouts, we had
a lot of really healthy disagreements and we
got to have a lot of really great debates,”
Huffman said. “[The club] is a place where
even if you are more in the middle or very far
to the left, your viewpoint will be [validated]
as long as you are not promoting any form
of hate.”
THE PURPOSE OF THE
YOUNG DEMOCRATS CLUB
IS TO ... KEEP STUDENTS
INVOLVED IN POLITICS.”
- ARIA HUFFMAN
SENIOR
Inclusivity tends to be central to the
Young Democrats’ operation, as it allows for
wider discussions.
They definitely tried as much as they
could last year [to be inclusive of diverse
points of view],” club sponsor Karen
McNamara said. “They were really trying
to encourage anyone who was there to
participate in the meetings.”
McNamara has been serving as the
sponsor of the club for three years, originally
starting due to the club’s alignment with her
field of expertise as a social studies teacher.
“As an AP Government teacher I want
to encourage students to participate in
politics,” McNamara said. “I think it is
key to have students civically motivated to
participate and understand more about our
government.”
The club’s activities, such as phone
banking to spark voter interest in candidates
and campaigns, are mostly student-organized
under the direction of the club’s board
members.
“We do phone banks and volunteer work
for Democratic campaigns, specifically in
Virginia,” said junior Elliot Smith-Chauss,
a Young Democrats board member. “In the
past we’ve also done some more national
ones, like for the Georgia runoffs.”
The upcoming Virginia general election,
featuring a race for governor between
Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican
Glenn Youngkin, has become one of the
Young Democrats’ main focuses.
“We’re [promoting other organizations’
campaigns and] phone banks [for the general
election],” Smith-Chauss said.
No matter how the general election goes
on Nov. 2, the Young Democrats’ goal
remains the same.
“We spend our meetings trying to inform
students about important topics and have
open discussions about those topics,”
McNamara said. “[We want to] get students
thinking about the role the government
should play in everyone’s lives.”
Infographic by Dania Reza & Philip Rotondo