During election times, Americans are bombarded with information on candidates, policies and platforms, and due to advancements in technology, the internet and social media, it can be difficult to sift through misleading political jargon and propaganda.

It is important to find reputable sources online, but talking to political professionals from both sides of the political spectrum to fully understand the stakes of the election and votes is just as vital.

The local Brazos County Republican and Democratic party chairmen clarified their respective parties’ platforms at the local and national levels. Both chairmen, as well as the vice president of the Texas Aggie Democrats, shared candidates’ intended policies and offered information on how to vote and why it should be important to Americans of all ages.

Russ Ford, Brazos County Republican chairman, summed up the Grand Old Party’s 2024 platform, stating, “[The] things I think are important [are] the economy, border security and … election integrity.”

On the other side of the aisle, Brazos County Democratic Chairman Thomas Cavaness answered broadly for the Democrats’ platform and policies at all levels of government if Kamala Harris were to win the presidency, including a potential border security bill that adds 1,500 border agents.

“I think we will see immediate action on things that we have wanted action on but haven’t been able to because of the divided government,” Cavaness said. “We will see action to codify Roe and overturn the Dobbs decision.”

On a local level, Ford said Republicans aim to reduce the cost of housing, boost the economy, secure the border, protect elections and encourage voting, particularly among young people.

“Republican elected officials are more conservative than their counterparts … they’re trying to keep people’s taxes low, and homeowners are extremely concerned about their taxes,” Ford said. “A lot of students don’t think about the fact that property taxes affect them, but even if you rent, you’re paying those taxes because [landlords] factor that into the [cost of] rent.”

According to Cavaness, Democratic voters in the area have been under-represented, as their representative candidates usually do not get elected.

“Electing Democrats at the local level … will provide a voice to people who don’t really have one here locally,” Cavaness said. “For 30 years, Texas and Brazos County have been pretty much exclusively GOP controlled.”

Cavaness said there are a couple of local Democratic candidates running on similar platforms, such as candidates Fred Medina and Dee Howard Mullins, who are both running to improve public education and access to healthcare.

Brazos County candidates are uniquely concerned with appealing to young voters and college students. Texas A&M Vice President of the Texas Aggie Democrats Zach Spanhak helps run the Aggie Democrats’ meetings, represents the organization in contact with other organizations and, like most of the Aggie Democrats’ other officers, acts as a deputy voter registrar to get Aggies registered to vote.

“Based on what I have seen, it seems like the main issues for young voters this election cycle are housing costs, which hits close to home with the price of renting in College Station continuing to go up,” Spanhak said. “Another big one is the issue in Israel and Palestine and wanting to see a ceasefire in that war. In general, I think abortion rights, reproductive rights, as well as the cost of healthcare … and last, but not least, I would say [young voters] are wanting to fight climate change as well.”

According to Ford, the Republican party agrees that a large issue college students and graduates are facing difficulty purchasing homes in the current economy.

“We have to get the education costs down and the economy up,” Ford said. “The Republican platform is very concerned about the economy because when students get out of school, they expect to be able to find good paying jobs where they can reduce their student debt and hopefully make good money [to achieve] the American dream of homeownership.”

According to Ford, the Republican party at all levels of government plans to boost the economy with two main policies: cutting taxes and reinvesting in oil fracking.

“We’re going to start drilling again, so the oil industry is going to come up,” Ford said. “The other thing that I think you’re going to see if we do get a Republican president … is a Republican initiative to stop [charging taxes] on gratuity.”

According to Cavaness, the Democratic party intends to focus on reproductive rights, reducing student debt and, similarly to Republicans, the cost of housing. Although both sides agree that the cost of living in Brazos County has become unaffordable, their parties have different solutions to the problem.

“In terms of policies that Democrats are fighting for that affect A&M students, one of the most important is … protecting [against] the Roe decision,” Cavaness said. “It wasn’t that long ago that we had a Planned Parenthood on 29 St. …they did perform really important STD testing and cancer screenings and we don’t have that resource here anymore.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to reduce student debt, which I think is really critical,” Cavaness said. “We know that the cost of living here in Bryan and College Station is too high. Kamala Harris put out a plan with Tim Walz to commit to 3 million new homes during her first administration, incentivizing developers to make available more affordable housing.”

The Republican Party also encourages young people to get involved in voting, Ford said.

“I ask the students to do their research and then be fair in their evaluation of that research,” Ford said. “The GOP of Brazos County asks that [students] vote early if you can. We’ve got such a small percentage of our population, and such a small percentage of the student population, that bothers to vote and it’s important.”

Both parties advocate for college students to utilize early voting and encourage students to change their voter registration address.

“One thing that the Brazos County Democratic party is doing to advocate for students’ votes … is that we are encouraging Aggies and Blinn students to register to vote here in Brazos County,” Cavaness said. “Every election we see a long line, mostly at the MSC, of people filling out provisional ballots… [but] often what happens, if you look back at previous elections, like [in] the primary election, we had something like 700 provisional ballots and only seven were accepted.”

For more information on voting and registration deadlines, visit mytexasvotes.com. There you can check your registration status, register and track your ballot status. You can also search for polling locations near you and see what will be on the ballot on election day. Votetexas.gov, from the Secretary of State, has more information about voter registration, early voting and polling locations.

Both Ford and Cavaness advocate for young people and college students to participate in the upcoming election. Spanhak agreed that voting, especially for young people, is extremely important.

He shared that if young voters continue to sit out of elections, candidates will have no incentive to appeal to their values. Spanhak believes that politicians cater to the demographics that are most likely to show up on election day, therefore increasing young voter turnout will incentivize politicians to hear young voters’ opinions.

“[Voting] is the single most influential thing you can do in politics as an ordinary citizen. When you vote, you are affecting policy directly,” Spanhak said. “You are one of the numbers that is going to decide who is going to be in charge of the state, country, et cetera.”

For more information on the Republican platform and policies, visit gop.com and for local information, visit brazosgop.org. You can find the Democratic Party’s platform at democrats.org and information for the county democrats can be found at brazosdems.org.