Tuesday, Nov. 5, students at the College of William and Mary and Williamsburg residents participated in the 2024 national and local elections. In the race for city council, voters chose Ayanna Williams ’26, Williamsburg City Council Member Barbara Ramsey ’75 and Vice Mayor Pat Dent to fill the three spots up for grabs.
Dent received the most votes at 23.46%, followed by Williams at 23.03% and Ramsey at 21.43%.
Commonwealth of Virginia voters gave Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine LL.D. ’06 a third term, while Vice President Kamala Harris carried the state’s 13 electoral votes.
Nationally, former President Donald Trump was elected the 47th president. Trump is only the second person in history to serve two non-consecutive terms.
In Virginia’s first Congressional district, in which Williamsburg is located, incumbent Republican Rep. Rob Wittman beat Democratic nominee Leslie Mehta.
Voting
Prior to the closing of the polls, Young Democrats President Brenna Gelormine ’25 was adamant that Harris was the nation’s best option and that her win would be “monumental.”
“As someone who eventually wants to pursue a career in politics, I am really excited about the opportunity to have someone to look up to in that office,” Gelormine said. “It’s wonderful that we have someone with such a diverse background, and someone who has gone through all of the legal processes, has started as a lawyer and working for the people and continues in that line of public service. Also, I would like to be able to maintain my rights as a woman and know that there’s a future where we are able to vote again, which is not something that’s promised in another Trump administration.”
Gelormine said she sent in her ballot when early voting commenced, voting for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. On Election Day, Gelormine worked at the polls for City Council candidates and tabled around the College to mobilize students to vote.
Gelormine worked on Williams’ city council campaign, which is a nonpartisan race.
“I feel very strongly about Ayanna Williams,” she said. “She’s one of my good friends, and she’ll do an amazing job in office for City Council.”
Similarly, Young Independents Treasurer Arman Manternach ’27 voted for Williams, as well as Fraser Hudgins ’84, because he believes they were the candidates whose political agendas most directly aligned with his own, particularly regarding interactions with the Williamsburg Police about noise ordinances.
“I’ve met both of them and as far as I could tell, they were the only strongly pro-student candidates,” Manternach said. “The issue that I care about most, because it’s the issue that affects me most, is policing in Williamsburg.”
College Republicans member Ryan Merkler ’28 mailed his absentee ballot to New Jersey two weeks ago.
“I voted for all Republicans down the ticket, including Donald Trump at the top,” he said.
For many years, Merkler saw himself as a Never Trumper, particularly following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but he later felt that he had been misinformed about the incident and much of Trump’s campaign.
“January 6 was a bad riot, that’s what I think it amounts to, but I don’t think it was an assault on democracy,” Merkler said. “Trump’s been a very villainized character.”
Merkler’s vote came down to economic policy, which was his top issue. He expressed that Trump has advocated for deregulations and opening up the economy, while Harris has not been forthcoming on her economic plan since separating from former President Joe Biden.
“Kamala has not differentiated herself in any ways from Joe Biden’s economic policy,” Merkler said. “But the economy hasn’t been great for the last four years, so we see that the Bidenomics is bad and we change captains.”
Conversely, Manternach said he voted for Harris because she represents the best future for the country.
“My vote is mostly against Trump, less than it is for Harris, but I do like her stance on the environment, I like her subsidies for first-time parents and I like her rent aid proposal,” Manternach said.
As a moderate and an independent, Manternach voted for Democrats throughout the ballot because he said he cannot support the direction the Republican Party is trending in and appreciates the more moderate and patriotic direction in which the Democratic Party is moving.
Further, Manternach felt strongly about voting against Wittman for reelection, which informed his decision to instead vote for Mehta.
“[Wittman] supports the stolen election claims, and I think that’s traitorous and has no place in our politics anymore,” he said. “Frankly, I don’t like his radicalization either, because he was a lot more moderate when he first took office, and I feel like the way his policy positions have changed is indicative of what’s wrong with the modern Republican Party.”
Gelormine, who has been working with Mehta to campaign, is a strong supporter of Mehta.
“I am really proud of her record,” she said. “She was the legal director for Virginia’s ACLU, and she’s now on the Rare Disease Commission by Governor Youngkin, and she has strong bipartisan support on either side.”
Reactions
The morning after the elections, Aafreen Ali ’26 and her friends sat around a table on Sadler Terrace, discussing the results of the presidential election. While Ali understands that Trump appeals to many rural, midwestern voters, she said she was still emotional about Harris’ loss.
“I don’t want to say that I was surprised, because in the back of my mind, I think I knew that with an extremely polarizing political landscape in America, it’s very easy to stay in a liberal bubble, like here in William and Mary and Northern Virginia, everyone’s going to vote for Harris-Walz, but I was also shocked,” Ali said.
Upon learning that Trump had won, Isabel Rose ’25 said she felt disheartened knowing where his votes came from.
“I am just depressed that our country would yet again support someone like Trump,” Rose said. “If you look at the amount of voters who voted for Biden and didn’t vote for Kamala, there was a significant number of Latino people and Black men voting for Trump. It was just really sad to see our country kind of regress back.”
In addition, Rose is concerned with the future of her rights under the Trump Administration.
“Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m worried about some of the rights that may be stripped away, or just how open my relationships with like women could be,” Rose said.
Merkler, having voted for Trump, was excited to wake up to this morning’s results. He said he looks forward to better economic policy and no longer feeling stuck in a congressional gridlock, following the Republican Senate majority.
Moreover, Merkler said he was impressed by Trump’s acceptance speech in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he promised to heal the country. Merkler hopes both parties will be willing to come together to minimize political polarization.
“It’s a two-way street,” Merkler said. “The Trump Administration definitely wants to heal, but the Democrats have to want to reconcile too. Trump is going to be a good president.”
Gelormine said she expected reproductive rights and social issues to make a greater impact on voters, but she recognizes that the economy came out on top as the most prominent political topic this election. Because of this, Gelormine expressed that holding the Trump Administration to its promises is now imperative.
“It’s the responsibility of all citizens to hold this new administration accountable,” Gelormine said. “If you voted because you want to see a better economy, it is your responsibility as a citizen to make that known, and if taxes go up for you because you didn’t realize that Trump only supports the top 1%, 10% and that does not account for you because you are middle class, it is your responsibility to make that known, because we want a president that serves all the people.”
Notwithstanding Trump’s return to office and the Democratic loss of the Senate, Manternach said he is proud that Williams was elected. He said even though many political outcomes on the national level have gone awry, he is excited for the success of Williamsburg.
“I was very pleased with the results,” Manternach said. “I think Ayanna is going to do a fantastic job. The students turned out for the City Council race, which is good to see. It’s heartening. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction for the student experience within the City of Williamsburg.”