With Senate Primary, Activism at Harvard Low

Sending text messages and making phone calls, a handful Harvard students sought to get out the vote for a U.S. Senate primary election that generated relatively little enthusiasm among political activists on campus.

Fifteen student members of the Harvard College Democrats gathered in the sparsely decorated Canaday Common Room Tuesday morning to canvass for U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, who ultimately defeated Rep. Stephen F. Lynch in the Democratic Senate primary. Working the phones from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., they urged College students registered to vote in Massachusetts to head to the polls.

Despite their enthusiasm, it was a remarkably different scene than similar efforts last fall, when Harvard students mobilized to support former Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren in her successful bid for the U.S. Senate.

“A lot of people have election fatigue. It’s been lower excitement in general,” said Daniel E. Backman ’15, one of the Canaday canvassers.

Originally, Backman said, the Dems’ Harvard for Ed Markey group reached out to more than 100 students to help with the campaign after the Dems endorsed Markey in February. But only a few responded.

Even with enthusiasm low among both activists and voters, Backman said the Dems still saw the election as an important one.

“With the whole country looking at this race as a judgment on Obama’s term so far and the Democrats in Congress as well,” said Backman. “We decided that we couldn’t let a Republican win again.”

In addition to their efforts on the morning of election day, the Harvard for Ed Markey group also went door-to-door last weekend to remind registered students to vote and assisted Markey’s campaign office in Central Square on Tuesday afternoon. The group was also aided by students affiliated with Divest Harvard in phonebanking and registration efforts. The Dems also co-hosted a voter registration event with the Institute of Politics, the Harvard Republican Club, and the Undergraduate Council Monday night.

For its part, the Republican Club held no organized events on election day. Following the organization’s tradition, it did not endorse any of the three Republican candidates in the primary, instead encouraging individuals or sub-groups to devote their efforts to the campaign of their choice.

According to Republican Club publicist Aaron I. Henricks ’16, some club members supported eventual Republican primary winner Gabriel E. Gomez “by word-of-mouth and emails.”

One Republican Club member, Sarah R. Siskind ’14, campaigned extensively for losing candidate and State Rep. Daniel B. Winslow.

“Normally I’m not very active in local elections, but I’ve been really active in this one,” she said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: May 7, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of students who gathered in Canaday Common Room on the morning of the primary election to make phone calls and send text messages for U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, the eventual victor of the election. In fact, 15 students, not four, made calls and sent text messages in Canaday that day.