Election 2024

Stories from Eugene by student journalists in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication



Election Day 6:43 p.m. Staff sort ballots at the Lane County Elections Office. Photo by Miles Cull

Party People


  • From Cheese to Change

    Twenty-year-old Mathias Lehman-Winters is already a veteran in Eugene’s local politics. ~ by Isaac Oronsky In fifth grade, Mathias Lehman-Winters ran for class president. His campaign promise: Better cheese in school lunches. “The [other] guy in my class, he was running and he was like, ‘I will give everyone ice cream every day,’” Lehman-Winters said…

    Read more: From Cheese to Change

  • Outnumbered

    Steven Schmunk doesn’t like Oregon’s current direction. The businessman has devoted much of his time since he retired to local politics, trying to give conservatives a voice in a predominantly left-leaning state.  In 2024, 15 out of 30 seats in the State Senate and all of Oregon’s House of Representatives are up for election. If…

    Read more: Outnumbered

  • Green Party Congressional Candidate Fights Odds

    Long-shot candidate Justin Filip campaigns aggressively to represent Oregon’s 4th Congressional District. Watching a third-party congressional campaign is not unlike reading about Don Quixote lunging and tilting at windmills. Like the gentleman from La Mancha, Justin Filip has said farewell to a typical life, and has spent the past few months traversing the countryside, extolling…

    Read more: Green Party Congressional Candidate Fights Odds


Elections Have Consequences

The impact of the 2024 results

  • Please Sign Here

    A student’s uncounted ballot pointed out Nevada’s signature verification issues in the 2024 election In Feb. 2016, Jonni Winn went with her mother to the local elementary school to participate in the Democratic caucus for the Nevada primaries. The 11-year-old watched her mom vote for the candidate she liked best — that is, by moving […]

    Read more: Please Sign Here
  • Trump’s appeal to the young white male

    Some of Donald Trump’s political success in this year’s election can be attributed to the loneliness felt nationwide by young white men who found refuge in his message and policies. Donald Trump’s message—Make America Great Again—has radicalized young working-class white men who long for the security and dominant status they once had when the “game […]

    Read more: Trump’s appeal to the young white male
  • Trickle Down Economics

    Ashland’s bid for a Water Treatment Facility faces uncertainty Ashland’s city hall overlooks Siskiyou Boulevard, the town’s main street. It is in the heart of the downtown area, just steps away from Lithia Park. It is an unassuming building, empty and shuttered by six o’clock on most nights. Mayor Tonya Graham sat behind her desk […]

    Read more: Trickle Down Economics


LIVE

From Election Day

UO journalism students reported live from Eugene on Election Day.


  • Pretty chillax


    Robin Reyna, a senior at University of Oregon hadn’t voted, yet. He planned on dropping off his ballot with a vote for Kamala Harris after his next class. “I’m a pretty chillax person about the election,” he said. “I’m gonna vote, but, like, whatever happens, it is what it is.”



  • Official update


    Devon Ashbridge, public information officer for Lane County, said at around 4 p.m., “Our elections team has been working hard all day…lines were wrapped about the block this morning and are starting to pick up as we speak.” Ashbridge and her team estimate about an 85% voter turnout with more than 160,000 ballots cast in Lane County as of Monday night.



  • Waiting


    The lines were long at the Lane County Clerk’s Office around 4 p.m. today with last-minute voters getting their ballots in before the 8 p.m. deadline.



  • “The world’s a mean place”

    For Tristan Gillis, a three-time Donald Trump voter, this election boils down to security, both on the world stage and on the southern border.

    “I think we’re still a great country, but I just feel like right now, we’re not necessarily feared,” said Gillis. He believes if Trump is in office, he will bring that fear and respect back to the United States so the country can lead by example and police the world. 

    Gillis pointed to an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris in which she spoke about Iran. “Their words to these terrorist organizations was just ‘don’t,’ where Trump just flat out said, ‘I’m gonna fucking bomb the shit out of it’ or whatever. It’s like he does not mess around.” Gillis acknowledged that Trump might seem “unhinged,” but believes this same sentiment is why other countries don’t provoke North Korea or Russia.  “I think he does a good job portraying that [strength] to world leaders out there.”

    The southern border continues to be a huge issue for Gillis. “There’s so many immigrants, even illegal immigrants here today that deserve to be in this country more than people that were born here. That they’re more productive members of society. But, unfortunately, there’s a shitty, you know, policy in place right now,” he said. 

    He believes that the immigration process should be fixed and that it takes too long to become a citizen, but people still must follow the law. “If you pick and choose what laws you follow based on your morals, then you might as well throw democracy out the window, and you should just, you know, live as a vigilante,” he said. 

    Gillis wished that during the campaign process both candidates focused more time on proposing actual border reform policy rather than bash or blame each other for the current failed policy.

    “The world’s a mean place. I’d just rather be on the winning side of that, and if that means we have somebody who’s an asshole, but it means my kids are gonna grow up in a little bit safer world, then, you know, that’s kinda what drives it for me,” he said. 



All Politics is Local


  • 18 and Ambitious 

    Jesse Maldonado pushed boundaries and made political history in Idaho. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I could at least come close,” Jesse Maldonado said. In 2013, Maldonado ran for city council in Lewiston, Idaho, at the age of 18. Fresh out of high school and with minimal political experience, he thought, […]

    Read more: 18 and Ambitious 
  • They called me a murderer

    The woman in this story asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy. “They called me a murderer,” she said. “I didn’t murder anyone. I just made a choice.” She is a 23-year-old woman who was raised in the heart of the South, a 27-mile drive from Jackson, Mississippi.  Politically progressive, she […]

    Read more: They called me a murderer
  • Oregon student by day, DNC delegate by night

    Last August, Taliek Lopez-Duboff walked onto the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “You’ve seen Modern Family? Jesse Tyler Ferguson? He was right there,” said Lopez-Duboff. “Nancy Pelosi is right there. These political giants that I’ve always seen on TV that are larger than life are here, and I have the same access […]

    Read more: Oregon student by day, DNC delegate by night

Results

Senate

100 Total Seats
34 Open Seats


President

535 Electoral Votes
270 Required to win

HARRIS

TRUMP


House

435 Seats
All are open

How We Elect the President

The Compromise

The Electoral College system that determines who will be president is a product of compromise and the complex politics…

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Ghosts of 2020

With early voting underway in 2024, the razor-thin previous race looms large  ~ By Nate Davis, Saul Galvan, Ryan…

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Another Way

2024 Marks a Historic Year for Voters as Mexico and the U.S. Face Landmark Elections with Different Electoral Systems…

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The Controversy

A majority of Americans wish to reform or replace the Electoral College with the popular vote. ~ By Connor…

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On Election Day

The 2024 Election will come down to a few crucial states. These states are important because of America’s Electoral…

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Election Trends

  • Untitled post 1058

    This story was originally published on the UO School of Journalism and Communication’s website. When it comes to turmoil, the 2024 U.S. presidential election has few rivals. The race, which will culminate in a new president-elect after Nov. 5, has for months been steeped in drama, surprising turnabouts and near tragedy. Media influence on politics…