Over the course of the last few months, Emily Huestis has been building up her campaign for city council, but she has had help from members of the College Democrats organization at Ashland University. 

Senior Owen McManus is the president of the College Democrats and was approached by Huestis in August. Fellow senior and Ashbrook Scholar, Jared Metz, helped McManus with her campaign efforts by canvassing neighborhoods and letting people know about her platform. 

“At the beginning of the semester during the involvement fair, [Huestis] came up and introduced herself to me,” McManus said. “A a few weeks later we met, we ended up walking around campus and she told me about herself and her campaign.” 

Other students had the opportunity to get involved when Huestids came to a College Democrats meeting and spoke about her platform and what her vision was. 

“At the meeting she spoke very fluently, and she spoke about the big ideas of the campaign,” Metz said. “She really wanted to focus around the racial injustices that were around Ashland and that really piqued my interest. So, I decided to raise my hand and speak up.”

McManus was also moved by her ideals and campaign, solidifying his interest in having College Democrat students participate. 

“She’s also very big on accountability,” he said. “That’s what interested me because I think every elected official should be very accountable to voters.”

The campaign assistance provided by Metz and McManus helped Huestis to get her name out there and provided resources to voters. 

Most of their activities included canvassing neighborhoods and getting the word out. 

“Some of the time we would be filling out envelopes to ship to houses, ship out some literacy about her campaign, and sometimes we would actually go and knock on doors informing [people] about her campaign,” Metz said. 

Having had this experience, both walked away feeling a greater importance for voting and getting involved in local politics. 

McManus believes that once people turn 18 it is their civic duty to vote and something that should be an annual action. 

“Every year you should really get into the habit because it’s what helps you be a better citizen,” he said. “It helps you stay more informed on local politics.”

After their efforts and their strong belief in the Huestis campaign, they hope to see good things happen for Huestis 

“One of the big results that I hope happens is that there’s some change on the board and they’re able to have some influence in politics,” Metz said. “Infusion of youth is her term for it. Something a little bit different that we haven’t seen before.”