Parade, Presidential Prospects, and a Foreseen Prediction

Students and alumni react to the 28th Mock Convention

Parade

Lining the sidewalk and sitting with friends, thousands of W&L students, alumni, townspeople, and parents waited for the much-anticipated “Mock Con” Parade to pass down Main Street on Friday morning, February 9.

Every state and territory of the United States was represented by a float designed and manned by Washington and Lee University students.

A red tractor led the parade, pulling a trailer filled with W&L College Republicans, their flag, and a life-size elephant statue. Atop the elephant sat Henry Haden, ‘25, president of College Republicans and Mock Con’s Republican Party Analyst.

While the crowd cheered for all 57 floats, only three received awards from First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin at the following morning’s Mock Con session.

Puerto Rico’s float, which included shark costumes, beach balls, and surfboards, took first place. California, whose participants danced beside palm trees and the Golden Gate Bridge, took second. And Louisiana, themed after Mardi Gras, took third.

Claire Richey, ‘24, and Mrs. Youngkin also recognized three “honorable mentions” — the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Illinois.

Reaction to Speakers

Thirteen speakers attended four sessions at the 28th Mock Convention on Friday and Saturday. The Spectator compiled summaries of each speech, and the Mock Con website features full recordings of each session.

Student reaction to the speakers varied.

According to The Ring-tum Phi, several students felt uncomfortable with the speakers and were disappointed that the university had not offered any “counter-programming.”

Other students, sources told The Spectator, criticized Mock Con for only inviting conservative speakers and not featuring any debates. After the event, several students complained that most speakers did not have a Q&A segment.

This was especially true for Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens, speakers whose right-wing views frequently attract college protests across the nation.

Lilly Gillespie, ‘22, a former president of College Republicans, admitted that she disagreed with much of what Kirk said. But she appreciated his “ideas about how Republicans need to win elections and the strategy and practicable steps we need to be taking to be a more active organizing force.”

Most students, though, tended to criticize Kirk and Owens’ remarks.

Sanjeev Rao, ‘27, described Owens’ comments as “controversial,” especially those related to global warming. “I feel like she cherry picked evidence to support her viewpoint,” Rao said. While “there is merit to many of her statements about family and God,” her talk overall included too many anecdotes and not enough evidence, he said.  “It was almost a freestyle where she was jumping from topic to topic very quickly, with little attention given to each.”

Ethan Casto, ‘24, told The Spectator that Owens was his least favorite of all the speakers. “Not to hate on her, but I don’t really feel like she said anything of value.”

Lex LaMotte, ‘78, on the other hand, enjoyed Owens’ talk. “She did a good job … especially in talking about her grandfather and the racism” he experienced. “Everybody's got a lot that they can achieve and you can't segregate one group from another because we're always stronger as a group,” he said.

Attendees reacted similarly to Donald Trump, Jr., but tended to be more eager to hear from him, even if they expected to disagree.

Rao told The Spectator after the first session that “I’m looking forward to Donald Trump, Jr. He bears the name of our former president so it should be interesting.”

“I personally found the most enjoyment watching Donald Trump, Jr., just because it was insanely funny,” Oriana Gutierrez, ‘24, told The Spectator. “Even though it was by far the worst speech in terms of quality, content and value … it made for a very great discussion,” she said.

Alumni, like Neely Young, ‘66, appreciated the big list of speakers like Governors Glenn Youngkin and Brian Kemp. But Young said that he “found Donald Trump, Jr.’s presentation somewhat vindictive and not particularly respectful of the Washington and Lee crowd.”

Youngkin, Kemp, Congressman Wesley Hunt, and Professor Jonathan Haidt were cited as some of the most popular speakers.

Young expressed enjoyment for all four of those speakers. Young ate dinner with Haidt on Friday and said he was “extremely impressed” by what he had to say.

Gutierrez also spoke highly of Youngkin, Kemp, and Hunt. “They discussed things like current politics and trends that felt palpable, didn’t feel alarmist, and weren’t necessarily in support of the current working nominees. They spoke more in broad terms like their future expectations [and] hope for the Republican Party,” which Gutierrez “felt was a lot more understandable.”

W&L alumni and parents, Judd Harper, ‘99, and Ryland Scott, ‘93, looked forward to seeing Governor Kemp represent their home state. “Gotta be a Kemp fan!” Harper said.

Casto enjoyed Hunt because “he was very pro-American … and very inspiring.” Casto also appreciated how Hunt “debunked … oppression and systemic racism in a single line.”

Not all spoke highly of those speakers.

“Jonathan Haidt is an embarrassment to New York University and this school,” said Mac Malambri, ‘27. “I was expecting to come in and get some genuine, valuable psychological analysis,” he continued, “but I could have gotten better analysis talking to a drunk old man.”

But of everyone The Spectator spoke to, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the most popular.

Rao said that he looked forward to hearing from Pompeo due to his service as director of the CIA. Other students hoped to hear his thoughts on international diplomacy with Russia, China, and Israel.

Casto said that “Mike Pompeo was the most educational and worthwhile of my time.”

Students and alumni expressed a general appreciation for the effort put into the event and the range of speakers at this year’s lineup.

LaMotte compared this cycle to his time at the 1976 Mock Convention, where students accurately predicted that Jimmy Carter would be the Democratic nominee. “While it was the Democratic Convention then,” LaMotte said, “there were certain people on the conservative side [who] were talking about the importance of Ronald Reagan. Four years later, [he] was the nominee and the president.”

While LaMotte said that the 1976 convention went well, he was confident that “you guys seem to be doing a better job than we did.”

Gillespie agreed that although the 2020 Mock Con was great, “there’s just so much enthusiasm around this convention.” She was also thankful that the W&L administration did not obstruct any of the speakers, citing her experience in 2021 when university officials prohibited College Republicans from campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin. “I think the issues we had may have helped pave the way,” she continued.

Convention Results

The convention nominated former president Donald J. Trump, predicting that he would win 2,353 of the 2,429 total delegates. The convention also predicted that Trump would select Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as his running mate.

In explaining their selection of Stefanik, Political Chair Foster Harris, ‘24, told The Spectator that they considered several options. “We relied on our outreach operation, specifically within Trump's orbit, to get a better off-the-record understanding of what President Trump is looking for in his choice, and we then did research according to those factors.”

Harris continued, “We picked Congresswoman Elise Stefanik because of her fundraising prowess, legislative chops, clear loyalty to Trump, and some staff-level factors.”

Harris compared Mock Convention to other primary predictions, such as Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight and Race to the White House. While these models do “a great job of weighing poll aggregates in each state,” Harris said that they offer only “a single tool in the prediction toolbox. It alone is far from sufficient.”

“We looked at more information than anyone else, and we have information that nobody else has,” Harris explained.

The Mock Con Platform Committee also created a 54-page Republican Party platform, which details the policy proposals of GOP activists and legislators.

Mock Convention has been accurate 74% of the time since 1908 and has accurately predicted every Republican nominee since 1948.