After leading a yearlong resurgence of the ASU chapter of the College Republicans, chapter president and political science sophomore Ben Stewart is going national.
Stewart announced on his candidacy Thursday for the chairmanship of the College Republican National Committee, or the CRNC. At the CRNC national convention this June, delegates selected by the Committee’s state chairmen will get to choose between Stewart and Zach Howell of the University of Utah.
Howell is the committee’s Western Region Vice-Chairman, and Stewart said he is part of a CRNC establishment he calls “The Good Ol‘ Boys’ Club.” Stewart said he embraces his status as the underdog.
“There’s always an establishment candidate who’s been with the CRNC for a long time [and] doesn’t want to make any changes, and there’s an anti-establishment candidate,” Stewart said. “The anti-establishment candidate rarely ever wins. But I think there are a lot of people in the Republican Party that are looking for changes in our leadership.”
Other College Republicans at ASU said Stewart has already brought those changes on a campus level. Longtime friend and fellow College Republican member Joshua Kredit said Stewart breathed life into a dormant club that he described as “scattered and disjointed.”
Stewart’s strength is putting on events that provoke discussion and attract large student turnout, Kredit said.
“Ben brings in great speakers,” Kredit said. “Sometimes they’ll get up to 60 people or more at these events. Students get to see a different side [of a political issue] than what they usually perceive it as, and they see what the other side of the political spectrum has to offer.”
College Republicans member and political science sophomore Jessica Bender said Stewart’s clean, honest, outsider approach could do wonders for the CRNC.
“The Republican party as a whole really needs to clean up its act and go back to walking the walk,” Bender said. “I feel like Ben is the perfect guy for that.”
The job of chairman of the College Republicans is seen as a highly prestigious job in conservative circles, Stewart said. At one time, the position was held by another University of Utah student, Karl Rove, who went on to be President George W. Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff. The chairman decides on the Committee’s overall strategic vision for recruiting members and spearheads fundraising efforts, Stewart said.
As national chairman, Stewart said he plans to get rid of what he claims is another waste of committee funds, a social-networking Web site for young conservatives called “Storm.” The site has failed to attract a sizeable following and is costing the Committee hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, Stewart said.
“It failed miserably, and they threw so much money at it,” Stewart said. “Our donors are entrusting lots of money into the hands of college students, basically. And if we keep on throwing it away, our donors are less likely to want to give to us.”
The committee was also irresponsible in choosing where to deploy student advocates, also known as field representatives, during the presidential election last fall, he said. Too many representatives were deployed to staunchly conservative states, when they could have been sent to swing states, he said.
Kredit said Stewart’s reform-minded approach would help boost CRNC’s image and could even help recruit more young people into the Republican Party. Stewart may have more in common with Barack Obama than he would like to admit, Kredit said.
“I don’t know [Howell], and I don’t know what he brings to the table, but if he’s really entrenched, maybe it would be good to bring in a newcomer, kind of like Obama,” Kredit said. “They [have] totally different viewpoints, but they could both bring in a new perspective.”
CRNC chairman candidate Howell could not be reached for comment.
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
