By Bindu Koyi and Amrin Rahman, Staff Writers
October 29 marked the annual Election Simulation Candidates Debate. The debate, which is an opportunity for candidates to share their core values with the audience, served as the final stage where candidates could face their opponents.
Senior Joshua Villas, who is running for governor as Republican Marcus Molinaro, argued that he wants to “decrease the amount of taxes in order to help citizens pay for higher education and healthcare instead of it being free.” But due to Cuomo attacking his lack of experience, Molinaro is regretful about the debate since “[Cuomo] and [he] both know that Democrats have been holding seats in this state for years and limit the influence the Republican Party can have.”
Junior Lucas Ayala commented on how the candidates interacted with one another during the debate. “One thing that stuck out to me was that every candidate who was currently in office accused the other candidate of not being able to do anything. However, that’s an unfair statement, seeing as how they obviously couldn’t accomplish anything if they didn’t have office positions,” he said.
Senior Julia Pienkowska, who represented Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic candidate running for re-election into the US Senate, noted that she was unable to discuss some points, which were vital to her campaign. She claims that “these points would have shown how experienced I am and how hard I fight for what I believe in.” Due to time constraints, Pienkowska expresses her desire “to have more rebuttal time” in order to effectively show her strengths as a candidate.
Freshman Sophia Zion described her first experience with the candidates debate. She felt that “the debate was really cool to see and the students playing the candidates were really professional.” She also added, “I definitely found the debate helpful in terms of who I plan to vote for, as it gave me a clearer understanding of what the candidates stand for.”
Sophomore Shabab Ahmed concludes by saying that “all in all, I felt as though the candidates this year were able to be more factual and informative about their stances compared to last year.” She was impressed by “how [the candidates] were also able to present information on their opposing candidates eloquently and have effective rebuttals prepared to say if necessary.”
Although the 2018 Election Simulation has come to an end, there is still next year to look forward to for an invigorating debate among the primary presidential candidates.
