The University's College Republicans hosted a debate yesterday night among six of the seven Republican candidates opposing Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville, in the upcoming election this November for the fifth Congressional district seat.
The organization's members said they were honored to host this event, anticipating that it would be their "most important and largest event" thus far, according to an e-mail that Chairman Joshua Lambert sent before the event.
Lambert said the organization hoped to gain full honesty from the candidates in their responses during the debate. To achieve this goal, all the questions the moderator asked were submitted by students and a complete surprise to the candidates.
The six candidates who attended were Ken Boyd, Ron Ferrin, Jim McKelvey, Mike McPadden, Feda Morton and Laurence Verga.
The debate consisted of four rounds. The candidates first gave two-minute introductory remarks, which were followed by student questions that the candidates had 90 seconds to answer. The candidates then took questions from the crowd with 30 seconds allotted for each question. Finally, each candidate was given one minute to make concluding remarks.
The student questions focused primarily on prominent issues relevant today, including health care, domestic safety, foreign policy and immigration.
"I thought they were well balanced. They tended more towards business and international issues," Morton said. "I was expecting pro-life and gun control issues."
The candidates aligned on main conservative issues, such as how to deal with health care and global warming. Their responses to Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst during President Barack Obama's 2009 State of the Union, however, was varied. Some said he should apologize while others claimed it was a legitimate, emotional outburst.
Boyd said he was pleased with the student attendance.
"I think it's great that college students are getting involved," he said. "It impacts your future so much."
Many students in attendance approved of the debate's format and organization.
"You had the human element [crowd and student questions], and it was official and timely," second-year College student Abbey Hendricks said.
Following the debate, Lambert said he was pleased with the debate overall and would mark it as a huge success, although he would have liked to see more students attend.
"Each [candidate] stood out in their own way," he said.
The night took an unexpected turn for the audience, however. Immediately after the debate, Lambert resigned as chairman of the College Republicans, explaining that he had shown great commitment to the organization but could not honestly say he had enjoyed his term and claimed he could no longer continue.
He attributed his disheartenment to the Republican Party politicians serving in Washington, D.C. today, calling them "spineless bureaucrats."
"I can no longer lend my name to an organization that cares nothing for its roots," said Lambert during his resignation speech.
-Kelly Kirschner contributed to this article.
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