A College Republicans chapter at Ashland University, in the critical swing state of Ohio, recently became the first CR club in the state to publicly denounce Donald Trump.
The announcement came in a Facebook post in which the club said their party’s nominee didn't share the conservative values they joined the Republican Party to fight for. This decision followed a vote taken at a club meeting during the primaries when their members unanimously voted to denounce Trump in the event that he won the nomination.
According to the club's public relations officer Joey Barretta, they first had to pass an amendment to their Constitution in order to allow themselves to take this vote.
“If this amendment had not been passed, we would have been obligated to support Donald Trump,” Barretta said.
Before the amendment passed, the Constitution said that the club’s leadership must pass on campaigning opportunities from any Republican campaign that reached out to them. The amendment left this obligation in place for most cases, but created an option where club members could vote to denounce a candidate who they believe doesn't represented their values.
“We believe that Mr. Trump has not proven himself to be a conservative, but rather a political opportunist who devalues the political process,” Barretta said.
Furthermore, he maintained that Trump’s actions were inconsistent with the tradition of the Republican Party.
“We maintain that the party of Abraham Lincoln is best suited to lead this country in accordance with the Constitution, but we do not believe that the words and actions of Donald J. Trump are in accordance with the principles that have united the party throughout its history," he said.
The club passed out flyers on Sunday, detailing the reasons they refused to support Trump. On these flyers, the club expressed several concerns about Trump’s candidacy, ranging from policy disagreements about eminent domain to critiques about the candidate’s character, based on his treatment of his opponents. Moving forward, this will likely be the end of this group’s involvement in the presidential election. They have not made an endorsement in the race and have made no plan to do so.
“We plan on focusing our energies this semester on state and local races,” Barretta said. “There is much important work for us to do helping to maintain control of the Senate and the Ohio State Legislature. With so many great conservatives running for other positions, there is no reason we should spend our time on a race with no conservative candidate.”