The Maine Republican Party’s youth initiative, Generation 207, hailed the party’s commitment to young voters at a forum in the University of Maine’s Memorial Union on Thursday.
The “Ask Me (Almost) Anything” interactive forum allowed audience members to converse with young leaders in the Maine Republican Party in person and on Twitter by including #Gen207 in their tweets.
A group of roughly 40 people — ranging from college age to the elderly — attended the event, where the main talking point was the party’s diversity, saying that people of all races and ages were welcome in the party.
“The Republican Party has a great message, and there are a lot of youth that feel the same way,” Lee Jackson, a University of Maine student who chairs Penobscot County Republican Committee, said.
One of the event’s three panelists, state Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, said he thinks the party’s message of “freedom and liberty” will resonate with teens and young adults.
“The Republican Party is becoming the party who is bringing the fresh ideas,” Brakey said, “[I]deas of personal freedom and I think they find that appealing.”
Nationally, Republicans had a good 2014, taking a majority in the U.S. Senate and widening their edge over Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Maine was no different as Voters in Maine’s Second District elected U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, giving the district its first Republican representative since 1995, with Gov. Paul LePage winning re-election.
That’s an encouraging sign for Republicans, but panelists said more work must be done. Alex Willette, a National Republican Committee member who works for LePage’s budget department, said the Republican Party must move away from being a “good old boys club.”
Abigail Bennett, a member of UMaine’s College Republicans, said initiatives like #Gen207 and SheLeads, a group empowering women leaders, are important to spreading Republican ideas to new demographics “that aren’t believed to be Republican.”
“I think more groups like Gen207 and SheLeads are showing diversity in the Republican Party,” Bennett said. “They’re showing new demographics that aren’t believed to be Republican.”
Hot topics like legalization of marijuana were also touched on by the three panelists, as well as the members of the audience. Brakey, a constitutionalist, led the conversation on marijuana. He said that the federal government should not regulate marijuana, as the constitution reads that individual state’s should decide on it’s legality.
Willette echoed Brakey’s point, but said successes in states like Colorado may not be indicative of what would happen in Maine.
Jackson admitted that the Democratic Party has done well in marketing their party to younger demographics.
“They have done a good job making the Republican Party look like old, white men that hate everyone besides them,” Jackson said. “Today was not full of old, white men, proving that the Republican Party is a diverse place.”
Jackson used the forum to plug the new “40 Under 40” project Gen207 was involved with. The project would highlight 40 conservatives under the age of 40 to look out for in the future. He said that he was excited by the competitiveness of the project.
“The list goes on and on and on, to 40 and double and triple that,” Jackson said. “I’m proud to see the nominations roll in.”
Jackson said after the meeting that it is important to have Republican voices at the University, regardless of its liberal reputation.
“Don’t write it off from what you heard,” Jackson said, “it’s really important to expose young people to civics. It’s great that we’re here on campus.”
Jackson said that there were no events planned in the near future for Gen207.