With midterms just around the corner, UH students are getting into the political spirit by hosting the Tri-Partisan Student Debate at the UC theater on Nov. 3.

Participating in the debate will be the UH Democrats, the UH Republicans and the libertarian group Young Americans for Liberty. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with one hour of prepared questions, 45 minutes of questions from the audience and 15 minutes reserved for closing remarks.

The prepared questions will include same-sex marriage, healthcare, taxes, the quality of secondary education in Texas, funding for the Texas Department for Transportation, abortion, the role of the federal government in securing the border, children of illegal immigrants receiving in-state tuition rates and state-run incentive programs for jobs.

Each team will have two debaters. For the UH Democrats, the debaters will include political science freshman Zana Shaw, and political science junior Charlotte Christian.

“Zana and Charlotte have debate experience and I’m truly confident they will represent the democratic values we stand for,” said UH Democrats’ Chief of Staff Jorge De La Fuenta.

Shaw, a policy debater for the UH Forensics League expressed confidence in her debating abilities.

“I really enjoy public speaking, and I’m a reasonably well-informed individual,” Shaw said. “I’m not really prone to getting nervous when it comes to these types of things; they’re too enjoyable to get nervous about.”

For the UH Republicans, the debaters will most likely include history junior Matthew Wiltshire and political science and economics senior Sarah Aimad. David Kochinski, president of UH Republicans, had nothing but praise for them.

“Matthew is very eloquent and almost professor-like,” Kochinski said. “And if Sarah can’t convince you, then no one can.”

For the Young Americans for Liberty, the debaters will include president Dalton Laine and North American Executive Board Chairwoman Noelle Mandell. Laine showed nothing but optimism for the debate.

“Our debate will be based off logic,” Laine said. “No one can argue with logic and facts.”

With each political organization hoping to convey their ideology to the audience, the event is proving to be much anticipated.

“Sometimes a campaign doesn’t show the true party platform, and we want to show the truth in the matter,” Laine said. “YAL’s specific agenda is to show that there is a third party out there.”

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“UH politics prepare for Tri-Partisan Debate” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar