USF students weigh affordability, immigration and education at the polls

Florida voters, including USF students, head to the polls today to choose a governor and a U.S. senator. ORACLE PHOTO/JEANELLE HENDERSON

As Florida voters prepare to choose their next governor and U.S. senator today, students are weighing issues such as affordability, immigration, education and gun violence when deciding who to vote for. 

The Florida general election features Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly competing for governor. In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Ashley Moody, Democrat Angie Nixon and no-party candidate Neil J. Gillespie are seeking election.

Tyler Cairns, a senior political science major and outreach coordinator for USF Democrats, said affordability is what most of the students are worried about, naming rent, gas and food as the biggest issues. 

He also pointed to immigration and artificial intelligence data centers as parts of his concerns when choosing who to vote for.

“Most students on campus don’t support ICE,” Cairns said. “When they find out some of the local candidates around this area strongly support ICE and their opponent strongly dislikes ICE, that usually is how they choose that candidate.”

To encourage students to vote, USF Democrats have organized campus tabling and canvassing. 

The organization is also backing the candidate Nixon through its “Bulls for Angie” effort. Cairns supports her because of her work on health care access and her background in organizing and union work.

He said 10 volunteers, from organizations such as Bulls for Angie and from Nixon’s campaign, recently knocked on about 300 doors off campus in an hour and a half.

“It was successful to spread the word,” Cairns said.

Getting students to follow through is another challenge. Cairns said the group encourages students to set a specific time to vote rather than leaving it until the last minute.

“Usually, people say they will, but they don’t really know when,” Cairns said. “If they don’t have a plan to vote, they end up not voting, even if they didn’t intend to do that.”

Related: USF civic engagement center guides students through midterm voting 

Affordability is also a concern for Jack Eddy, a junior finance major and USF GOP executive director. He pointed to housing costs, everyday charges and the difficulty young people may face when trying to afford daily expenses.

USF GOP has hosted meetings with candidates running for state Senate, state House and school board, Eddy said. The organization supports Republican candidates, including Donalds and Moody.

Eddy’s personal views, however, differ from the club’s support for the Republican candidates, once he believes ‘they are all fake’. 

He said he does not plan to vote for either Donalds or Jolly in the governor’s race. He also recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to the Florida American Party.

“I dislike both of them,” Eddy said of Donalds and Jolly.

His frustration reflects what he sees as a growing divide between traditional Republicans and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Eddy described the Republican Party as being in a “civil war” and argued that MAGA has hurt the party’s reputation.

Eddy encouraged students to look beyond party labels and evaluate political ideas independently rather than automatically aligning themselves with one party.

Related: Angie Nixon rallies students at USF a month before Senate race 

Hannah Fontanez, a senior psychology major who is not affiliated with any political party, also prefers to make voting decisions based on her own views. Registered in Florida, she will likely vote by mail.

Although social media is her main source of political information right now, Fontanez plans to do more research before voting.

“I know [social media] can have bias,” Fontanez said. “So I would rather look through non-biased news sources before I finalize my vote.”

Fontanez said she sees herself leaning Democratic but does not want to commit to a party that may not represent all her beliefs.

“I would rather stay independent because I know that not everything on the Democratic side aligns with my views,” she said.

However, not every student sees voting as worth the effort. Andrew Thompson, a senior biology major, for example, is not registered and does not plan to vote in the midterms.

“[I think voting is a] waste of time. Pointless,” Thompson said when asked why he does not plan to vote.

For Thompson, candidates won’t follow through on their promises or bring much change.

“It doesn’t matter whatever the candidates say,” he said. “They’re just going to do whatever. Nothing’s going to really change all too much.”

Thompson also does not want to spend time following political news. He said he attended an event with Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon but felt she was trying to appeal to the audience’s emotions with her speech.

“She played on emotions to get more votes,” Thompson said. “Which you have to do. That’s part of the whole thing.”

He believes politicians from both parties tailor their messages to the people they want to reach. However, Thompson acknowledged that he had not attended an event with Nixon’s opponent, Moody.

For first-time voter Maddux Null, a junior biology major, the issues matter enough to make voting a priority. Null recently registered in Florida’s Osceola County and plans to vote on Election Day.

Education and immigration are their top concerns. Null wants to see more resources for schools and teachers and believes immigration needs more immediate attention because it affects people they know.

“Especially with teachers, the resources with education just aren’t where I want them to be,” Null said.

Like Fontanez, Null gets much of their political information from online spaces and believes they could learn more about the candidates. 

When deciding whom to support, they look for policies that would bring change in areas such as education, health care and the economy.

“I’m not wanting to vote for the candidate that just wants to keep things the way they are,” Null said.

Their advice to other first-time voters is to consider more than personal interests.

“I think you should be thinking of it in a community type of way,” Null said. “Look at the people around you and your community needs, and make the decision based [on] that.”

For Emery Phillips, a junior cybersecurity student from Massachusetts, voting is a way to stay involved in the state where she plans to return after graduation. She is registered there and plans to submit her ballot by mail.

Gun violence and gun control are her biggest concerns. Phillips supports Massachusetts’ gun laws, which she believes have helped keep gun violence and school shootings low.

Phillips said living away from home makes voting less convenient because students must plan for their mail ballots to be sent and returned. She said she knows students who chose to change their registration to Florida or skip voting because of the extra steps.

For Phillips, staying informed and participating in elections remains important because the decisions made by elected officials affect the communities she considers home, even from a distance.

“I think it’s really important to still stay educated and involved on issues that impact you and will impact your home state and cities, even if you’re not living there currently,” Phillips said.

Polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Voters must bring an accepted form of photo identification, and a USF student ID is among the accepted forms. Voters can also visit the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections website to view their personalized sample ballot and find their assigned Election Day polling place.