As election time approaches, students continue to hear the names Braley and Ernst all around campus. There has been plenty of talk for what each candidate stands for and how the election could change Iowa after Tom Harkin’s resignation. While this election is very important and will have a direct impact on Iowans, there is another election that will have an equal impact on the people of Iowa, and that is the race for governor.

Terry Branstad (R.) has served as governor longer than any other governor in the United States. He began serving in 1983 and did four terms until 1999. In 2010 Branstad wanted to see a change in the way Iowa’s government was being run and entered the race for governor again. He won and is the current incumbent on the upcoming election for governor against Jack Hatch.

Hatch (D.) has served in the Iowa House of Representatives and is the current chair of Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee. Hatch also serves on the Economic Growth, Human Resources, State Government, Labor and Business and Appropriations committees.

Iowa politically is known for being an election hotspot because of the amount of swing voters that live in Iowa, however, Branstad being the longest serving governor in the country shows that when it comes to voting for governor, Iowa tends to lean to the right.

College campuses, and young people in this country, tend to have a larger liberal population. Iowa State has strong support for both Republican and Democratic parties. We as students, but also as citizens of Iowa have a job to do, and that is to educate ourselves and vote.

There are a lot of campaigns happening in Iowa right now. There is the race of a U.S. senator to take the place of Senator Tom Harkin, there is the race for governor, the race for U.S. Congress representatives and more. Just because the focus right now has been on Joni Ernst and Bruce Braley does not mean that we only need to pay attention to Iowa politics for the time being, but we are always evolving and always changing and we need to be always paying attention.

Voting is one of the most important things we can do in our lifetimes. We have the abilities to decide who is making the largest decisions in this country. Every person has a voice, yet still so many people think they do not have enough information to use their voice.

The answer is to educate yourself. We are in college because we are interested in pursuing an education. Why not make that education more well rounded by learning how our government works and learning how each candidate can represent us, the constituents. 

There is no more time for excuses when it comes to voting, and there is no better time than right now to learn and start to get involved politically. Americans are lucky enough to have the option to choose our government, and we are lucky enough to have the option to vote when there are many other countries around the world that do not have that option. Do not waste your rights. Vote.