The Republican Party's gubernatorial victory in yesterday's election came as little surprise to many University students, with some community members even expressing apathy or general lack of interest about the commonwealth's latest political events.
University Democrats President Megan Durkee and College Republicans President Josh Lambert both said they expected yesterday's results. "What surprised me the most," Durkee said, "was that it was a sweep." She attributed much of the Republicans' success to "an overall sense of dissatisfaction" with current national Democratic leadership. "A lot of people thought things would magically change," she said.
Lambert agreed with Durkee's analysis. "There's a lot going on in the national scene that Republicans aren't that enthused about," he said. He also attributed much of the Republican success to Virginia Democrats being "burnt out" from last year's election. He also added plainly, "People weren't that excited about Deeds."
Durkee, however, said she expects the loss of such key positions at the top of the commonwealth's government to motivate Virginia Democrats to move forward in and strengthen their efforts. "It will provide that fire for next year," she said.
Lambert said the Republicans were filled with the passion Democrats were lacking at this year's election. "We put our heart and soul into the race," he said, adding that this helped push McDonnell and others to victory.
Regardless of whether their respective parties viewed yesterday's results as positive or negative, both Durkee and Lambert agreed that overall increased voter apathy was a problem in this election, especially on Grounds. Several University students, for instance, declined to be interviewed about the election, citing a lack of knowledge about the candidates. One second-year student, who asked to remain anonymous, summarized many student's sentiments about the race: "I just haven't been paying attention to it."
Other students may have been discouraged from voting by what they perceived to be a lack of relevance to their daily lives in Charlottesville.
"It didn't seem so important to me on a personal level," fourth-year College student David Galbraith said. Galbraith also noted that to vote in the election, he would have had to go through the hassle of re-registering, which he said would not have been worth the effort.
Not all students, though, were so apathetic about yesterday's events. Fourth-year College Student Mary Carter, who cast her ballot for Deeds, took full advantage of her right to vote. She participated, she said, to be part of the "overall idea" of the election process and also because she could see "no good reason not to [vote]"
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