By Ben Dickison, Sports Editor
Ohioans have casted ballots in open primaries to choose who will represent each party on Election Day. For Xavier students Ethan Nichols, Carolyn Isaly and Hannah Caruso, tonight’s election coverage is especially captivating. Due to their work with a selection of the candidates hoping to advance to the general election, they are not just pulling for their favorite candidate, but instead for good friends and mentors.
Ethan Nichols, a junior Politics, Philosophy and the Public (PPP) and English double major and Newswire staff writer, recently won the election to be a delegate voting for President Biden to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for President at this year’s Democratic National Convention. He is also lending a supportive hand to the Biden campaign from his work with the Ohio Youth Alliance to mobilize voters to support the Biden-Harris ticket and to re-elect incumbent Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.
Nichols also serves the City of Cincinnati more directly as political advisor for Cincinnati City Council member and Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney. Nichols considers this year’s primary and general election one of the most consequential in American history.
“There is so much at stake in Ohio and across the nation this year. In addition, control of the Senate runs through Ohio,” Nichols said.
Alongside his involvement in a variety of key Ohio political structures, at the local, state and federal levels, Nichols continues to advocate on campus through his officership with Xavier Democrats, a club committed to promoting Democratic values on campus and encouraging students to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot.
“Young voters are making up a larger and larger voting bloc and, in many cases, are deciding elections…Many students think the barrier to entry is high for political action, but it’s not… From registering to vote, volunteering on a campaign, posting on social media, and volunteering to register voters, everyone can make a difference,” Nichols said.
Two additional students taking action this election cycle are first-year PPP and accounting double major Carolyn Isaly and first-year entrepreneurship and business management double major Hannah Caruso. The pair are spending hours a week passing out literature and gathering support for the posterity of one of the more notable Xavier faculty members ever on staff, Phil Heimlich.
Heimlich is the son of Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the Heimlich maneuver to prevent choking and was a Professor of Advanced Clinical Science at Xavier from 1977-1989. He is running to represent Ohio’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Isaly serves as Grassroots Manager for the Heimlich campaign. Her role includes coordinating canvassing ventures with other interns such as Caruso. Isaly did not necessarily expect to, as a member of Xavier Democrats herself, support the campaign of a Republican who has worked in Cincinnati politics since the early 1990s.
“(Heimlich) is the only Republican in District 2 not running as a “MAGA” Republican. Another candidate who was running in the Democratic primary actually dropped out to support Heimlich. The parties are very much coming together under Phil Heimlich,” Isaly said.
In a contested race where Heimlich is facing challenges from 11 other GOP opponents vying for the district, Isaly and Caruso both raved about the unique environment created by Heimlich’s centrist campaign.
“I like how honest he is and how evident it is that he cares about us interns. He took us to Starbucks and paid, then paid for our bubble tea after we canvassed. He knows all of us by name and knows my major. He calls me when things go poorly when we’re canvassing. He’s gone out canvassing himself,” Isaly said.
“I would say similar things. He told us he didn’t want to get into politics for the money or to be a Republican or a Democrat but to help be a voice for people who don’t necessarily stand with either party,” Caruso said.
There are only two Democratic candidates seeking the same seat in District 2. In the packed GOP race, congressional Republican representatives have endorsed a different candidate in the race. Former “anti-Trump” Republican and Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger endorsed Heimlich.
Former President Trump won the Republican presidential primary in Ohio, while the Biden-Harris ticket took victory on the Democratic side.
Trump-endorsed businessman Bernie Moreno, who won the Ohio Senate primary yesterday, is set to take on 17-year incumbent Sherrod Brown in November.