First-time voters at historically Black Alabama university react to Trump’s win
On the night of the presidential election, Kayla McCray felt anxious. The contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was the first federal election in which the 20-year-old Alabama State University (ASU) student had ever voted.
The historically Black university (HBCU) was holding a watch party on campus. McCray peeked in but quickly left. She preferred instead to hole up in her dorm room all night, splitting her attention between ABC News and a Google ticker on her laptop.
“It was probably one of the most stressful days of my life – seeing how many states were turning red,” said McCray, who serves as president of the ASU chapter of the College Democrats of America.
While the youth turnout rate this year appears to be down from 2020, students like McCray demonstrate the hope of an engaged youth electorate. This year, the Southern Poverty Law Center launched The South’s Got Now | Decidimos campaign to turn out voters, particularly young voters of color like her, and unite them on issues that affect their communities in local, state and federal races throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
It was a late night as well for 23-year-old Armani Benton, president of Alpha Gamma Psi, the ASU chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, The National Political Science Honor Society. She had spent time volunteering to help people register to vote at the courthouse and phone banking for Shomari Figures, who won his race for Alabama’s recently drawn 2nd Congressional District.
Benton said she stayed up until 2 a.m. watching MSNBC and refreshing her Google and Instagram feeds. She said she was shocked by the outcome.
“I felt a lot of people thought that because the Harris campaign targeted a lot of support from HBCUs and Divine 9 [sorority and fraternity members] that it was going to be a liberation for people who are liberals,” Benton said.
Others, like ESaeLynn Cameron, weren’t so surprised. The ASU student cast an absentee ballot in her home state of Ohio, her first vote in a presidential election. She attended the campus watch party. The mood was subdued.
“I feel like this outcome was expected by a lot of people,” she said. “I just hope that Americans can remain respectful of different opinions and political views.”
Optimism and frustration
Cameron’s most concerning issue was protecting women’s reproductive rights and health. According to an AP VoteCast postelection survey, abortion was the second most important issue to voters between 18 and 29. These voters, the survey found, were more likely to vote for Harris. The No. 1 issue to young voters of all races was the economy and jobs. Young white voters who said they cared most about the economy were more likely to vote for Trump.
Young voters cast 14% of all ballots in this year’s presidential election, according to the National Election Pool exit poll conducted by Edison Research. Young white voters accounted for 66% of these voters, despite representing 56% of eligible voters aged 18-29, according to data analyzed by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
CIRCLE’s exit polls show that young people of color overwhelming voted for Harris. She garnered 75% of Black voters under 30, 72% of young Asian voters and 58% of young Latinx voters.
Among ASU students, reactions ranged from optimism to determination.
Laquann Wilson serves as vice president of the campus Pi Sigma Alpha chapter. He felt his time would be better spent helping local candidates – in the 7th Congressional District, where Rep. Terri Sewell won reelection, and in the 2nd District, where Figures will serve his first term.
Figures’ opportunity came as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Allen v. Milligan, which challenged Alabama’s previously drawn congressional district map because it intentionally diluted Black residents’ political power. Wilson and Benton had helped organize a candidate forum for Figures on campus in October.
Wilson felt that either way the election went, the local challenges affecting the state would remain his greatest concern, issues such as hospital closures and a lack of investment in education. Though he remained indifferent about Trump’s win, he expressed concern that civil rights could suffer under a second Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress.
“I’m anxious how it’s going to turn out,” Wilson said. “It looks like Republicans are definitely in charge of the federal government. I don’t want to see anything else lost from the Voting Rights Act.”
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a key Voting Rights Act provision that required states and municipalities with a history of discrimination against nonwhite voters to get federal clearance before making any changes to voting laws or procedures.
‘Put my power into action’
For this young crop of Gen Z voters, Trump’s second term will be their first experience getting to know the president as adults. Most college freshman and sophomore students were in elementary or middle school when he won the 2016 election. Some barely remember his presidency beyond overheard conversations and remarks made by family members or teachers.
For Benton, the ASU Pi Sigma Alpha president, it was important to push past all the stories she had heard about the former president and do her own research. She liked his message of “Black empowerment” through financial literacy and his first administration’s investment in career and technical education.
Benton said she made sure to look into Project 2025, an initiative that details a complete government overhaul backed by more than 100 conservative groups. She found it “ridiculous.”
Many have expressed anxiety about the future should the policies outlined in the 900-page plan, organized by the Heritage Foundation, be enacted.
“What really concerns me is that it advocates for the elimination of the Department of Education,” said Derryn Moten, chair of the Department of History and Political Science at ASU. “That would be a disaster for those of us who live in the South – all 50 states, but particularly here – because what it means to me is that the Southern governors would play a greater role in shaping public education. Think about the legislative initiatives that came in response to DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], CRT [‘critical race theory’] and ‘wokeism.’ Alabama’s DEI and divisive concepts bill went into law on Oct. 1 of this year.”
The Alabama law, signed by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in March, limits the use of public funds for DEI programs and restricts the ability of public school teachers to discuss so-called “divisive concepts.”
“If you go anywhere in this state and you ask someone for their definition of divisive concepts, you’ll get 50 different answers,” Moten said.
Project 2025 goes further than targeting the Department of Education. It aims to reverse the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone; includes policies that advocates warn would facilitate mass deportations; and aims to downsize agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which it labels “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”
For first-time voter Sabrya Davidson, who serves as secretary of ASU’s Pi Sigma Alpha chapter, it was important to vote for a candidate who she felt had the best interests of all Americans in mind. She said that whatever may come won’t deter her from fighting for a more just and equitable democracy.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Davidson said. “Gen Z, a lot of us wanted Harris to win. With her losing, they’re going to think their vote didn’t count. But the fight continues. I still have so much ahead of me. I want to put my power into action.”
Picture at top: Laquann Wilson, vice president of Alabama State University’s Pi Sigma Alpha chapter, is concerned that civil rights could suffer under a second Trump administration. “I don’t want to see anything else lost from the Voting Rights Act,” he says. (Credit: Hillary Hudson)
