Written by Darby Vanhoutan

In an election year marked by a heated presidential race, one group on campus has decided to resist showing support for presidential candidates and focus on local elections instead.

The University's chapter of College Republicans, led by President Adam Steinhilber, has not yet come out in support of republican nominee Donald Trump.

Although the group hasn’t explicitly declared their support for Trump, Steinhilber said that they support Republicans as a whole.

“The nature of our organization really has us supporting all Republican candidates,” Steinhilber said.

The 2016 presidential election has had some people questioning their party allegiance. At the beginning of this month, the Harvard chapter of College Republicans, the oldest chapter in the country, issued a press release in which they withdrew their support for Trump.

Although groups don’t always express elevated support for a candidate, it is unusual to come out and not support one, Steinhilber said.

“That’s just inherently how it is. It’s like the Kansas State Republican Party that has inherently supported every republican candidate with an ‘R’ by their name,” Steinhilber said.

This trend is consistent with Republican voters as a whole in elections, said Patrick Miller, associate professor of political science.

“[Trump] may be possibly too far right to them, they may not like his personality, but whatever he gives them politically as president will probably be closer to their preferences than what Hillary Clinton would give,” Miller said.

However, members of the University’s chapter of College Republicans said this is no usual election.

“I don’t think in any sense of the word that Donald Trump is a traditional candidate,” Steinhilber said.

What makes a difference, Steinhilber said, are the campaigns in which the College Republicans decide to get involved and focus on.

“Our focus this semester is on a lot of local campaigns such as helping congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, senator Jerry Moran, as well as state senate candidates and a county commission candidate,” Steinhilber said.

The University chapter of College Republicans consists of about 50 full-timemembers. According to Steinhilber, this semester the group has three students working on Jenkins’ campaign, one on Moran’s campaign and others who volunteer by knocking on doors and walking in parades.

Although some Republicans have been hesitant to support Trump, Miller said loyalty to party commonly outweighs differing ideals.

“[Trump] will easily get the vast majority of Republicans because that’s their part. They’re loyal to their party and that has nothing to do with Trump,” Miller said.

Although it may seem hard to believe a political group would decide to abstain from supporting a presidential candidate during such a historic election, Steinhilber said that the work that needs to be done is in local politics.

“You can make much more of an impact on the local level,” he said.