By 194th Co-President Luke Albert ‘22

I write with the start of the Harvard College Democrats’ 195th Board. This organization has been a home for me since the first days I stepped on campus, and it was a truly great honor to serve as Co-President. I’m thrilled to be passing the baton to Alexandria King(‘24) and Claire Duncan(‘24), two proven leaders and my dear friends. With my departure, I’d like to briefly reflect on what we’ve achieved over the past year and give my thanks to what has been an incredible board.

By Luke Albert ‘22, Harvard College Democrats Co-President (2022)

It is August of 2022, and the midterm election season is about to heat up as primaries wind down over the next month. We, the Harvard College Democrats, began an annual democratic endorsement process for campaigns we would support, allowing our organizing to be democratically led by our membership. This has opened so many doors for our programming and engagement, perhaps most notably our newfound involvement in competitive primary campaigns. Prior to the past two years, we allowed students to individually organize in groups for specific campaigns, like the 2020 presidential primaries! However, now with our democratic endorsement process, we fight to elect great candidates in general and primary elections, which can sometimes be the deciding factor in who ends up in office. We know that it’s not enough to just elect Democrats but that we must elect good Democrats, and now, since we’ve been involved in some of these battles in an election cycle full of them, I wanted to take the time to reflect on the election results of the candidates we’ve endorsed this year, look ahead at those with elections on the horizon, and preview the high stakes election coming this November.

By Luke Atkins ‘23

Remember what happened after the GOP-backed deregulation of Wall Street led to the economy collapsing in 2008? The government had to bail out big banks, adding to the trillions of dollars of public debt incurred by the wars of the Bush Administration neocons, and then many Republicans spent eight years under Barack Obama’s presidency measuring the economy on the sole basis of nominal national debt. Then when Trump got elected, they completely discarded all debt concerns and changed the narrative.

By Justin McMahan ‘21

Any kid who grows up in America knows that there is no greater holiday than Halloween. They get to dress up in a costume, stay up till 9 pm running around the neighborhood with their friends, and receive candy from strangers. Those children who are lucky enough to live among wealthy Conservative Americans know that Halloween was made even better because rich houses stock up on king size candy bars. If the above story has not spooked the Conservative American then their survival is doomed. Perhaps a clearer explanation of such horror is needed: Halloween is nothing more than a social welfare program designed by the Liberal Left to redistribute wealth in America. Think about it.

by Allison Scharmann ‘21

I had been so proud to see Barack Obama win just eight years earlier. I pre-registered to vote in order to ensure that I would have a say in choosing the Democratic candidate I would invest my vote in that November, but when I looked at my first ballot it wasn’t the clash of Bernie and Hillary that caught my eye. I realized, scanning the names down the ballot, that being a Democrat in Massachusetts meant there wasn’t much variety in my primary choices.

Looking at this upcoming midterm election I believe once again that the United Kingdom can offer us something new to take: stronger voter turnout. In the 2017 Parliamentary elections, voter turnout in the U.K. was 68.8%, which continued a trend of increasing turnout since 2001. What’s even more impressive is the stark increase in estimated voter turnout among those between the ages of 18-24, which for the first time since 1992 surpassed 60%.

By Justin McMahan ‘21

The time was 8:45 on a Saturday night. I was walking back home with my two friends after spending the entire day on the court. We were three blocks from home, and had already walked around the park as Mom always reminded me to do.

“I don’t want you getting in any trouble, you hear me?”, that was her favorite saying. I knew it was for good reason;

By Starr Rhee '21

1965- in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act, forming the basis for our modern-day immigration system. Unbeknownst to the American public, with a stroke of the pen, Johnson permanently shifted the racial demographics of the United States.

By Allison Scharmann '21

“There seems to be a problem with your insurance. Do you have another card?”

I froze. I had just gotten out of my first appointment at HUHS this November, and needed to pick up a prescription. Without thinking, I reached for the MassHealth card in my pocket and held it out to the pharmacy worker.

“I’m sorry, we don’t accept MassHealth,” she said in a sympathetic tone.