Two days after the 2018 midterm elections, the Watauga County Republican Party posted a now-deleted Facebook post, which said college voters were not informed.
“We ran hard, but the uninformed college voters came out by the thousands,” the post said. “They have no idea how they have impacted the citizens of Watauga County.”
The post also thanked everyone who stepped up to serve.
“This was not an authorized post by the party,” Nathan Miller, vice chair of the Watauga County Republican Party, said. “This was one lone individual that was upset with the recent election and the recent outcome.”
Miller would not say who made the post.
The Student Government Association Senate Committee on External Affairs released a statement on Facebook in response to the post.
“The Student Government Association of Appalachian State University formally requests an apology from the Watauga County Republican Party for this attack on our Student Body,” the statement said. “We also hope that the Republican candidates who spent time on our campus engaging with students will disavow this inappropriate statement.”
The statement also said that App State students “are in fact citizens of Watauga County and that they are informed and engaged members of this community.”
“I just thought it was kind of an outrageous thing to say,” Lee Franklin, junior political science major and chair of the Committee on External Affairs, said. “I disagreed with its premise that students aren’t informed.”
Miller said the post will likely be brought up in the party’s next executive meeting. The meetings are usually held on the last Thursday of the month, but Miller is not sure if there will be one this month because of the election.
“There’s a clear divide in the county between the university and the county as a whole,” Miller said. “Obviously there’s more than just the university here and there’s more than just the rural areas. There has to be a way to bridge that gap.”
Miller also said the post does not represent the feeling of the Watauga County Republican Party.
“We want to win over votes, not alienate votes,” Miller said.
Story by Moss Brennan
