A Santa Fe College student and a UF doctoral candidate are both ready to face challenges reminiscent of the 2013 Gainesville election.
Lucas Jewell, a 23-year-old Santa Fe economics sophomore, and Chris Weaver, a 28-year-old UF public policy and administration doctoral candidate, are both running for Gainesville City Commission for District 1 — the most recent in a group of student candidates to run.
“We shouldn’t see each other as a separate political entity,” said Gainesville Mayor Ed Braddy. “Students are such a large part of our community that we need to understand the issues that matter to them and how best to address them.”
Braddy said he believes students running for office show that students are genuinely interested in how the city works. He added that some city officials also hold other jobs, and he assumes students who run will find a balance as well.
“Anyone who accepts political office has to balance the responsibilities,” Braddy said.
Prior to Jewell and Weaver, Alfredo Espinosa ran for the District 4 City Commission seat. The 22-year-old UF building construction senior ran in 2013, and with his team he faced challenges from the community head-on.
The vote from Gainesville residents was something the campaign team knew wouldn’t be easy.
“We realized really early that it was going to be hard to court the older Gainesville vote,” said John Rodstrom, Espinosa’s campaign treasurer. “We skipped the first forum because we wanted to know about all the issues and that we were not just these kids.”
During that forum, the incumbent Randy Wells jokingly talked to the empty chair next to him, Rodstrom said. However, they quickly earned the respect of the Gainesville community.
“We went into the second forum knowing all the issues,” Rodstrom said. “People were actually clapping for us.”
However, they focused more on the students.
Current candidate Chris Weaver said students who run for office often face the negative perception of a short residency and criticism that they don’t care as much about the larger Gainesville community.
But not him, he said. He hopes to increase economic opportunities in Gainesville like working on the economic disparity in east Gainesville.
“I’m not just a graduate student,” he said, “I have the knowledge and experience in public finance.”
Lucas Jewell said another issue facing students who run for city commission is that, historically, students don’t vote.
“In elections where you need only about 1,000 votes to win, if the students voted en masse, they could determine the outcome,” Jewell said.
Jewell said he has a nine-part platform, including lowering utility rates and softening the punishment for minor drug offenses.
As for the Espinosa campaign, it facilitated the student vote by bringing absentee ballots to designated Greek leaders.
“We made it as easy as possible for the student,” Rodstrom said. “They didn’t have to go to the polls. We really streamlined the process.”
With about 27 percent of the vote, Espinosa finished second to Randy Wells but ahead of W.E. “Mac” McEachern.
“We weren’t actually depressed,” Rodstrom said. “It was actually kind of cool. Mayor Ed Braddy called us.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/21/2015 under the headline “Student campaigns prompt memories of 2013 city election"]
