Heartbroken over Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) failure to clinch the Democratic nomination, Manny Singh, ASU junior computer science major and Sun Devils for Bernie president, said he still believes the club has a place on campus.
Although Sanders did not receive the nomination, Sun Devils for Bernie officials said they hope to remain present on campus by reorganizing their mission — although they are not endorsing another candidate.
"Obviously [Hillary Clinton's nomination] was kind of heartbreaking but very much expected," Singh said. "A lot of people are just dissatisfied with establishment politics and … it looks like we will still continue to be politically involved."
Singh said he hopes for the club to get involved in local grassroots political movements that reflect the values of Sen. Sander’s campaign, but he did not specify which. Even though their nominal purpose may not have been achieved, the club's purpose lives on.
He also said the club had more than 200 members last semester, and the large size is a motivating factor in keeping it alive.
Many members have developed disparate viewpoints regarding this year’s election because Sanders is not the democratic nominee. Singh said many are supporting Clinton, some are supporting Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, and some are supporting Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Anita Rocha, a junior business and global politics major, was a founding member of Sun Devils for Bernie and the former secretary. She resigned from her duties once Sanders lost the nomination and is now supporting Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.
"The club itself was a good atmosphere, but … we didn't have conventional week-to-week things because we were working mostly with the campaign," Rocha said.
Sanders' campaign officially endorsed Sun Devils for Bernie last year, and club members worked closely with campaign staff on campus during tabling and canvassing events in Tempe and downtown Phoenix.
Veronica Monge, a senior criminal justice major and strategist for the club said she worked at such events. In the spring of 2016, club members used these events to help students of all political backgrounds travel to polling stations.
She said she hopes to continue using the club's influence to increase student voter turnout.
"Our main goal is to engage students at ASU and to promote civic engagement because our voter turnout is so low," Monge said. "Even though we are a partisan club, our main goal is to get people involved."
Reach the reporter at Garrison.Murphy@asu.edu or follow @Garrison_Murphy on Twitter.
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