After a long and brutal convention fight, it is no surprise that some College Republicans are marching toward secession.
During last Saturday’s convention, state delegates attempted to restore the votes of nine uncredentialed federations. These delegates forced the convention to take votes on 11 proposed amendments to the credentials committee report. But after over four hours of deliberation, all amendments failed to pass the two-thirds threshold required. Soon after, the credentials committee’s report easily passed with a majority vote.
Though then-candidate (now-chairman) Courtney Britt and the group Amplify CRNC nearly swept the College Republicans national elections, they face a monumental challenge: keeping the CRNC together. The Washington Examiner reported last week that the Texas Federation of College Republicans would consider disaffiliating from the national organization. Now, both the Texas and the New York state federations have announced that they are actively considering leaving it.
And they are not the only ones. National Review’s Isaac Schorr has reported that Florida and California are also likely to withdraw. Tuesday evening, the Mississippi federation voted unanimously to leave the CRNC. If Chairman Britt does not act quickly, more federations may make a similar exit.
The Mississippi Federation of College Republicans has unanimously voted to leave the @CRNC and sent the attached letter via email earlier this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/sxON9uDhLY
— Mississippi Federation of College Republicans (@missfcr) July 20, 2021
So why are these federations leaving now? Simply put, it is because some state federations have alleged that they were unfairly disenfranchised during the credentials committee hearing and now on the convention floor.
There are perfectly valid reasons to dispute this claim. During last Wednesday’s public rules committee hearing, the chairman of the Massachusetts federation said that, despite his recent election, he was able to credential his delegation. The Virginia federation’s chairman also noted that 35 state delegations, including his own, were able to submit their credentialing information and get their delegates.
The counterargument is clear: The process was fair. And under normal circumstances, one could easily sympathize with that counterargument. After all, rules should be fairly enforced with as little exceptions made as possible. However, one episode on the convention floor raises serious questions about the organization’s commitment to a fair enforcement of the rules.
When delegates introduced an amendment to seat the Arkansas federation, opponents re-aired accusations of voter fraud in the federation’s recent leadership election. Their argument? The state had not produced evidence that fraud had not occurred. The federation was effectively guilty until proven innocent. Such a ridiculously high standard would be unconscionable if applied in our courts today.
A delegate from Massachusetts says that his evidence that the Arkansas College Republican convention was fraudulent is that Arkansas has not proven that it was not fraudulent. Incredible.
— Isaac Schorr (@isaac_schorr) July 17, 2021
On top of that, serious questions remain about the credentialing process on July 11. As the Washington Examiner previously reported, four emails with near-identical subject lines and messages (with the required recognition letters) were sent to the credentials committee around 4:00 AM Eastern time the day of its hearing.
And as National Review’s Isaac Schorr reported on Monday, there now may be evidence that a member of the CRNC’s outgoing leadership went out of his way to obtain a recognition letter from a chapter in the Ohio federation.
Of course, this evidence may not be sufficient to prove the CRNC acted with impropriety in the last election. However, after examining this evidence, it is hard not to sympathize with those who believed that their federation had been wronged in the process, especially when attempts to remedy this situation were repeatedly voted down on the convention floor.
Faced with federations leaving the organization, Chairman Britt must now find a way to build trust in the CRNC after its grueling 9-hour convention. After 129-years together, mistrust may break the CRNC apart.
Samuel Kim is a commentary desk intern at the Washington Examiner and an active member of the Cornell University College Republicans.
