Temple University students hope other young people turnout for midterm elections

By Laurel Sherburne and Sydney Rose Dion-Martel

PHILADELPHIA — Actors Kerry Washington and Jabari Banks, State Sen. Sharif Street, Congressman Dwight Evans and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta shared the stage to encourage turnout in an event aimed at young people Sunday at Temple University.

Jesse Dimich-Louvet, a 21-year-old political science major at Temple, said that a majority of students on Saturday’s.

“We have an 84% registration rate among Temple students, and 73% of them turned out to vote in the last election in 2020,” he said. “It’s one thing to get people registered, but it’s another to get them voting.”

Dimich-Louvet said that some professors, including three of his political science professors, have canceled their classes Tuesday to let their students vote.

Nate Weinberg, 19, is a public relations and political science major at Temple University, worried about the gubernatorial race between Republican Doug Mastriano and Democrat Josh Shapiro.

“If we elect Mastriano, democracy would go away,” Weinberg said.

Students for Shapiro was created by Shapiro’s college-aged daughter, Sophia. The group has chapters on campuses across Pennsylvania, and its goal is to motivate Gen-Z voters. Weinberg is a member and expressed the importance of the group’s weekly text-banking sessions.

“They’re engaging Gen-Z individuals. It is Gen-Z texting Gen-Z, so it’s great when you can say ‘slay’ and you’re in their language and use that slang,” he said. “They know you’re getting personal and not just a robot or someone behind the computer screen sending generic responses.”