Over 200 Lexington, Kentucky community members awaited the results of the presidential and local elections at a watch party held at Greyline Station.
The watch party, hosted by the Fayette County Democratic Party and Fayette County Young Democrats, took place on Tuesday, Nov. 5 starting at 6:30 p.m., and lasted through the night as election results, both national and local, were counted.
Sarah Katzenmaier, an active member of the Fayette County Democratic Party said politics do not stop at voting, and said she “cannot imagine” not staying updated and involved with local media sources.
Katzenmaier first became interested in politics when she was 17 years old when she decided to help work the campaign for the late politician Larry Hopkins. Hopkins helped to start her activism work for the Democratic party.
“He told me, ‘You’re a Democrat at heart, and you need to do that (campaign for Democrats),’” Katzenmaier said. “So I got involved right away.”
Since then, for over 50 years, Katzenmaier has fought for causes like abortion, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and animal rights.
Many local government candidates also attended the watch party, like Adam Moore the Democratic candidate for the 45th House District.
Moore said the actions of a local government have a larger impact on its community than presidential elections do.
“What happens in Frankfort, what happens on your city council; impacts your day-to-day life much more,” Moore said. “Now, not that the presidential election isn’t important, because they set the direction of our entire country, but your daily life, my daily life is gonna be more impacted by the Lexington City Council.”
Moore said elections have the greatest impact on younger generations. Moore ended up winning his local government election and will now be in Kentucky’s House of Representatives.
“If you’re 80 years old, your vote counts every bit as much as someone who’s 18 years old,” Moore said. “But that 18-year-old is going to live with the consequences of that election for a longer period of time.”
Many younger Lexington community members not only attended the watch party, but helped organize it. University of Kentucky political science and law and justice freshman Trenton Schroering, a volunteer with the Fayette County Young Democrats and staffer with the Fayette County Democratic Party, assisted in helping with the event.
Although this was Schroering’s first time voting in a presidential election, Schroering said he’s been involved in politics since he was a child.
“Public service is my greatest dream, my greatest ambition, and at this point I feel like it’s my obligation,” Schoering said. “If I can even help one person through my actions, then I have a responsibility to do so.”
Schroering, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, said he felt as though politicians often try to take advantage of younger generations.
“Politicians too often feel like they can game the youth cynicism to their advantage, because the youth do not turn out in droves as other generations do,” Schoering said. “I think that is wrong, because we are going to inherit the world that they create.”
Schroering said he believes one of the main reasons certain federal issues haven’t been addressed is because not enough people have been out protesting and advocating for what they believe in.
“Yeah, I feel as if too many people have the top of the ticket be the end of their political involvement,” Schoering said. “Through the groundwork that I have done with local candidates campaigns here and just being in the campaign office … I have seen the impact that local races can have.”
Some of the candidates running for local government offices said it was also important to run for office no matter the outcome.
City Council Democratic candidate Emma Curtis, who ended up winning the election for Lexington’s 4th District City Council and being the first openly transgender woman to do so, said it was monumental for her to even be on the ballot, let alone win.
“If running this race has made life a little bit easier for just one kid who’s feeling the way that I felt, then it’s all been worth it,” Curtis said.
Curtis said she believed local government can have a greater impact on a community than national elections can.
“I think that your school board members and your city council members impact your day- to-day life more so than the president of the United States does,” Curtis said. “Local government is where the rubber meets the road on just about any issue in this country, whether you traditionally think of it as local or not.”
Curtis also voiced her belief in the importance of younger generations educating themselves and getting involved in politics.
“My generation and younger, we’ve grown up in a world full of decisions being made about us, without us,” Curtis said. “So when I think about why young people should get involved politically, it’s because every single issue is disproportionately impacting us.”
Curtis said all people, young and old, need to work together to help aid the future of America’s government.
“Young people need to get involved, because it’s the only way we’re getting out of this mess,” Curtis said. “We’re all in this together, whether we like it or not, and politics is going to mess with us if we don’t mess with it.”
