The College Republicans hosted three Erie politicians, who discussed leadership and involvement in politics, on campus in Burke 002 on Feb. 2nd.

 

At 6 p.m. on Thursday night John Persinger, an Erie mayoral candidate; Robert Yates, chairman of the Millcreek Republican Committee; and Brenton Davis, a candidate for county executive of Erie came to Behrend to speak about their own political experience and discuss with students.

 

Persinger, a graduate of Harvard University and Notre Dame Law School, has been mulling a run for mayor of Erie since late 2016, and the 35-year-old Erie lawyer plans to officially announce his mayoral campaign on Feb. 16, as reported by GoErie.com.

 

Persinger discussed several of his campaign platforms with the individuals in attendance. Citing Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s cleanup of Times Square, Persinger spoke about his plan to bring greater commercial and residential investments to the city, which he believes can have beneficial results on Erie’s crime and poverty issues amongst other issues.

 

Despite being in his mid-30s, Persinger brings extensively qualified political experience to the Erie mayoral race. The hopeful Erie mayor was Associate Director of Scheduling for President George W. Bush’s presidential re-election campaign in 2004, and he later worked in the West Wing as an aide to White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Deputy Counsel William Kelley. Before attending law school, Persinger also acted in a chief-of-staff role to U.S. Ambassador to Australia Robert McCallum.

 

The night’s first speaker was Yates, chairman of the Millcreek Republican Committee. Yates spoke of his determination to get involved in politics in many ways, and he urged students to do the same.

 

Yates followed his personal goal of participating in the 2016 presidential election as a delegate. The current Millcreek GOP leader successfully ran to become a Republican delegate for the 3rd Congressional District of PA, and he helped vote for Trump at the Republican National Convention to become the GOP’s presidential candidate, despite initially considering voting for Cruz.

 

Davis concluded the meeting as the night’s final speaker. Davis, a 33-year-old local businessman, owns Erie company Davis Enterprises, a company he started from the bed of a pickup truck. Davis also possesses experience in the military, where he served for over 16 years. Davis announced in December his intent to challenge former US House Representative Kathy Dahlkemper for her incumbent position as Erie County executive in a 2018 election.

 

Davis’s campaign slogan reads “More leadership, less politics!”, and in speaking with Behrend students on Thursday, leadership was his main topic of discussion. Davis connected to the students in attendance through the idea that leadership is an essential trait in all positions, not just politics. It is that very idea that Davis himself believes can connect with voters, too.

The meeting was attended by 20 to 30 Behrend students, who were primarily involved with Behrend’s College Republicans organization. The appearances of Persinger, Davis, and Yates were organized by the College Republicans’ president Justin Gallagher.