Miami University’s College Republicans hosted influential conservative voices such as Ben Shapiro, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno at the Future Leaders Forum on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The speakers addressed roughly 500 Republican attendees at the invite-only event, discussing issues such as inflation, immigration, government control and career politicians. All three are known as “political outsiders,” meaning they don’t have a legacy career in politics but ran for office or shaped political discussion.
“Not only are the College Republicans in the room the future leaders, but it’s the national leaders that the College Republicans were listening to that are going to continue to be future leaders for our country,” said Spencer Mandzak, state chairman for the Ohio College Republican Federation.
Ben Shapiro was originally scheduled to be on the panel with Moreno and Ramaswamy but arrived later because of Hurricane Milton. He spoke briefly during the reception, endorsing Moreno and expressing confidence in Donald Trump’s prospects in the November election.
Moreno was introduced by Drew Belcher, Miami’s College Republicans’ director of membership and events, who originated the idea for the forum.
Moreno, originally from Bogotá, Columbia, is running in the tight race for the Ohio Senate seat against Democrat incumbent Sherrod Brown. He previously ran in 2022 but lost in the primaries to now-vice presidential candidate JD Vance. In his speech, he said the country is going too far to the left and should be governed more toward the middle.
“We’ve gotten to the place where we’ve forgotten what our national identity is,” Moreno said. “We’ve forgotten that’s what makes this country special. We’ve continued to elect leader after leader that has taken more power and centralized it into Washington D.C.”'
Moreno rallied against career politicians during his speech at the Future Leaders Forum on Oct. 10. He said they have centralized too much power into Washington DC and forgot about the constituents they represent
During his speech, he said the government has “lost its ever-living mind during COVID,” citing it as part of the reason he is running. He said that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is what prevented extreme lockdowns seen in countries such as China.
After Moreno's speech, Ramaswamy joined the stage, speaking about his desire to dismantle the bureaucracy or what he calls the “Nanny State,” addressing “wokeism” and the future of the conservative movement.
“I feel good about where we are right now,” Ramaswamy said. “I don’t urge complacency, we got a job to accomplish in the next 26 days.”
Following Ramaswamy’s speech, he and Moreno did a Q&A with Mandzak, where they thoroughly discussed their views about immigration, future leadership for the party and gave fiery attacks on political opponents.
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“The other thing you got to know about Kamala Harris is if any of you are video game fans, she’s an NPC,” Moreno said, referring to a nonplayer character — a metaphor for someone who lacks independent thought.
During the forum, Moreno and Ramaswamy both advocated for mass deportation of undocumented migrants, a key aspect of Trump’s campaign. Moreno restated unfounded claims that the Biden administration uses “private jets” to secretly bring migrants from Latin American countries to the U.S.
The program he is referring to is a Biden immigration policy enacted in January 2023, allowing up to 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela if they had financial sponsors.
“If you want to be constructive, facts always win,” Moreno said. “This isn’t a Democrat vs Republican election, this is a common sense versus lunacy election.”
Ramaswamy and Moreno expressed optimism about the role of Generation Z in this election and for the party's future leadership.
“The job of the next generation of conservative leadership is to bequeath that vision of American exceptionalism that lived in the post-World War II era,” Ramaswamy said.
He attributed U.S. involvement in “pointless” wars to a sense of cynicism in the country that “threw away our hubris” in the process.
“You have every reason to maybe have grown up in an era where you might be cynical about our country, but it’s still the last best hope that we have,” Ramasamy said.
Throughout the forum, they both emphasized the importance of voting and getting out to the polls, with Moreno saying to not only vote yourself but also bring 10 others to vote with you.
Although they both encouraged early voting, several states, including Ohio, have implemented new laws compressing early voting times, lengthening the absentee ballot request process and implementing stricter ID requirements.
Ben Shapiro reiterated his confidence in Donald Trump winning against Vice-President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election during the brief speech he gave toward the end of the forum.
College Republican chapters from around the state showed up in droves for the event. Mandzak said only 55-60% of the roughly 175 college Republicans at the event were from Miami. Belcher said the Miami chapter is one of the largest chapters in the state, with about 70-80 members.
During COVID-19, the College Republicans took a drastic hit in membership, going from more than 30 statewide chapters to nine. Since then, they have recovered with 19 current chapters, with four more looking to be established at universities across the state.
Will Mendel, a senior finance major, joined the Miami College Republicans during his first year in 2021 after seeing that JD Vance was visiting and has since taken on executive roles in the club.
“Establishing a strong culture that makes people want to go back every week and excited to call the College Republicans your group of friends,” Mendel said. “That’s what keeps me coming back.”
Although he expressed optimism going into this next election, he said the thing Republicans need most is unity on issues such as abortion, which many party members disagree on.
“I think there just needs to be a set standard,” Mendel said. “I’ll admit, Democrats are very good at that.”
Abortion remains a top issue among voters, with 56.62% of Ohio voters passing Issue 1 in the 2023 election, enshrining access to abortion, contraception and other measures into the Ohio constitution.
The issue of abortion wasn’t brought up once at the event by any of the speakers. Moreno has recently faced criticism over abortion comments he recently gave at a Warren County town hall speech he gave on Sept. 20, where he said a lot of suburban women are only concerned about their ability to get an abortion.
Cherilu Duval, a Butler County resident and lifelong Republican, attended the event and expressed optimism about the Republican tickets across the ballot. She said Moreno and others are a fresh start compared to career politicians.
“It seems like a lot of times, people go to the Senate or Congress and they say they’re going to do things, and then they get there, somehow the culture just sucks them into where they forgot what they said when they were running for office,” Duval said. “I think an outsider running for office will have fresh ideas.”
She cited Moreno’s success as a businessman, saying he doesn’t have a financial incentive to go into office and receive money from lobbyists.
“I just see good things about Bernie Moreno and Vivek Ramaswamy,” Duval said. “I felt like they spoke from the heart [and] that Moreno is running for office because he really cares about this country.”
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