The App State College Republicans met Wednesday to discuss the results of the 2024 general election and celebrate several victories for federal, state and local candidates. 

Roughly 20 people attended the meeting in Anne Belk Hall which began with watching Donald Trump’s Nov. 6 acceptance speech. College Republican president Jacob Epperson gave opening remarks at the beginning of the meeting.

Epperson first spoke about the presidential election where Trump is projected to win after surpassing the requirements for 270 electoral votes Wednesday. Epperson mentioned projected swing state wins for Trump including North Carolina and Pennsylvania. 

“It’s like all of our greatest dreams have come true,” Epperson said. “This is like the best-case scenario, honestly, and it happened.” 

After Epperson’s remarks, College Republicans Vice President Caroline Hupp spoke about Republican wins in Watauga County. 

Republican candidates in all three Watauga County Board of Commissioners races won their elections, with Republicans Braxton Eggers, Ronnie Marsh and Todd Castle having sweeping victories throughout the county.  Hupp said she was surprised to see such large deficits between candidates in the county commissioners races.

“This has been a work in the making for four years, if not more,” Hupp said. “We have all successfully gotten Republican control back into our local county commission.”

Hupp acknowledged Senate Bill 759 which instated five single-member districts in the Board of Commissioners race during her remarks.

“Thanks to Ray Pickett and Senator Ralph Hise we were able to get the redistricting done before the next cycle,” Hupp said. “So he drew some pretty good districts that made it a little bit easier for us to get Republicans back into control.” 

Hupp said she hopes to see changes with the new majority Republican leadership on the Board of Commissioners including expanding first responder services throughout the county. 

“I am looking for fiscal responsibility, common sense governing and an EMS out in Blowing Rock,” Hupp said. 

Hupp also spoke on the results of the Watauga County Board of Education, which is a nonpartisan race. Hupp said she is excited to see Alison Idol take a lead in the race.

“This will be the first time in a very hot minute that we will have a conservative on the school board,” Hupp said. 

As of Nov. 8 at 12:06 a.m., Idol, Charlotte Mizelle Lloyd, Adam Hege and Marshall Ashcraft are in the lead for the Watauga County Board of Education. There are 487 provisional ballots that need to be verified and counted to determine a finalized list of the three winners who will move forward to the ballot. 

Cody Miller, national vice chairman of the National Federation of College Republicans, spoke about presidential results after Hupp. Miller used several maps reporting election results to illustrate his remarks.

Miller highlighted projections in New Jersey, New York and Illinois as states with narrower margins of victory for Harris compared to the same states’ margins of victory for Biden in 2020.

“It’s not in every blue state, it’s specifically a voter realignment,” Miller said. 

Zeke Jones, treasurer of the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans, spoke after Miller. Jones said he was disappointed about Republicans losing certain races including lieutenant governor and attorney general in North Carolina.

“Those candidates were fairly tied to Mark Robinson before all the stuff came out about him so that’s unfortunate,” Jones said.

A September investigation published by CNN linked Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to comments made on a pornography website. Robinson lost his bid for governor of North Carolina to Democrat Josh Stein. 

Jones said he was happy with Republicans’ performances in the North Carolina Senate and U.S. Senate.

“Trump will be able to do basically whatever he wants,” Jones said. “As long as conservatives agree with him, he will be able to enact his agenda.”

Before adjourning the meeting, Epperson spoke with attendees about their experiences reacting to election results and criticized Kamala Harris’ platform on abortion.

“It was like a lose-lose situation when they focus on abortion inherently,” Epperson said. “I mean the Supreme Court decided that it’s going to be held up by the states.” 

Vasudha Mothukuru, a sophomore biology major, attended the meeting and said she was shocked by the results and criticized Harris. 

“A Republican candidate has not won the popular vote for two decades and so I think it just illustrates how terrible a candidate Kamala is,” Mothukuru said.

According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump is projected to win the popular vote in 2024, the last Republican candidate to win the popular vote was George Bush in the 2004 election.

Mothukuru said she is looking forward to a “pre-Biden-Harris administration era.”

“That means an America where we have a strong economy, low inflation, low crime, a secure border,” Mothukuru said. “I also want to see Trump fulfill his promises that he wasn’t able to do in his first administration.” 

Mothukuru said she enjoyed canvassing during the election cycle in Watauga County and the community she has gained as a member of the College Republicans. In the future she wants the College Republicans to focus more attention on reaching out to voters on App State’s campus.

“The majority of students are liberal anyhow,” Mothukuru said. “But we could try to rally the young male voters that have shown this election season that they care about traditional values and restoring conservative candidates to politics.” 

Editor’s Note: The Appalachian reached out to App State College Democrats about their reactions to recent election results but they did not wish to be included in this story.