While the results of the Kentucky General Election are not earth-shattering — with the majority of local and state wins earned by incumbents — the national scope of midterms has high school students and first-time voters around the nation excited for the future of American politics.
At a national level
After speculation about a “blue wave” in the midterms, Democrats only managed to take control of the House of Representatives while the GOP retained control of the Senate.
However, Congress became more diverse. In this year’s midterm elections, a record number of women were elected to the House including the first two Muslim women, the first two Native American women and the youngest woman to ever be elected to Congress.
In addition, Colorado elected the first openly gay governor, Massachusetts will send their first black woman to Congress, Tennessee and Arizona elected their first female senators, South Dakota elected its first female governor and Texas will send its first Hispanic woman to Congress.
All of these changes in national leadership have excited Manual students as they reflect on their first time voting and the results of the election.
Manual students react
First-time voters at Manual looked forward to fulfilling their civic duty leading up to election day. They were encouraged to share their voting experience on Instagram and Twitter with #REManualVotes and many commented directly on what voting means to them.
After hearing the results from the election, many Manual students were surprised by the lack of the “blue wave” in both houses of Congress but were looking forward to Democratic influence at the federal level.
 “I’m a Democrat and even though we didn’t get the Senate, I’m actually really happy with the election because it sets a precedent for the future,” Mihir Kale (12, MST) said. |
 “I think a lot of the stuff that happened was really groundbreaking,” Parker Mindel (11, HSU) said. “I’m excited for the next two years to see how things turn out and I’m really hyped to vote when I’m 18.” |
 “I feel as if nothing was helped,” Sterling Chancy (11, MST) said. “I think any use of parties just leads to more partisanship which leads to a more divided election.” |
 “I thought that the election made it clear how the American people feel about how Donald Trump has been performing in office,” Maddie Goldstein (12, HSU) said. |
 “Honestly, I’m disappointed that the ‘blue wave’ didn’t reach the extent Democrats wanted it to,” Faith Evanson (11, HSU) said. |
Some Manual students were ecstatic with local election results after spending months interning at campaign offices and attending youth voter summits.
“The [Eighteen x 18 #WeVoteNext] Summit was a gathering of youth from all around the nation to come up with ideas to engage as the next generation of voters and increase voter turnout,” Quincy Robinson (c/o 2018, YPAS) said.
High school students all over the nation interacted with each other on social media in order to encourage voting.
“I think that the advertising [on social media] helped a lot,” Robinson said. “Just the simple reminder that you should vote helped to get the message in people’s heads.”
Despite disappointment in some regards, Louisville youth are not giving up just yet.
“We are so lucky to be living in a place like [Louisville],” said Forest Clevenger (12, YPAS), one of the many student volunteers on Mayor Greg Fischer’s re-election campaign. “We’ve got great people representing us and they’ll do a great job [continuing to do so].”
