On Wednesday evening, representatives from Notre Dame College Republicans and Notre Dame College Democrats met at the debate stage to discuss immigration, health care, tariffs, the Israel-Hamas war and political violence.
The debate was hosted by BridgeND, Notre Dame’s nonpartisan student organization aimed at lessening political polarization through conversation, as part of their ConvergeND series, which aims to organize these very conversations.
Edy McCurrie, BridgeND’s president, spoke before the debate began. “It is no secret that our nation’s political climate is charged and that the effects of this are devastating. Before we can improve the political climate out there, we need to improve the political climate here,” McCurrie said.
Professor Laurie Nathan, a former senior mediation advisor to the United Nations and current director of the Kroc Institute’s mediation program, moderated the debate.
Shri Thakur, president of College Republicans, wrote in a statement to The Observer that the organization’s main goal for the debate was “convincing others of the superiority of conservative policy and defending the record of the Trump Administration.”
Alex Funk, co-political director of College Democrats, wrote in a statement that their focus was “to show what issue-based discussion can and should look like in today’s politically divisive climate.”
The debate started on the topic of immigration.
Thakur initiated his argument by criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
“The result was that 10 million illegal immigrants, a number greater than the population of 47 U.S. states, poured into our country,” Thakur said. He also argued that the Democratic Party doesn’t believe in borders and views immigrants as a new base of voters and cheap labor.
Elaborating upon his organization’s stance on immigration, Thakur said, “While [Democrats are] sipping margaritas with MS-13 gangsters, this administration has taken decisive action to solve the border crisis. Illegal border crossings have plummeted to the lowest levels in history.”
Funk responded to this by saying, “I agree there is an immigration problem in this nation, but the current administration has gone too far.”
“They’re kidnapping undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens alike, because this administration is tearing up the Constitution. This is an example of authoritarianism,” Funk said.
On healthcare, Funk voiced support for expanding the Affordable Care Act to ensure every American has access to an affordable healthcare plan. She said the ongoing government shutdown began because the Trump administration wants to end a tax credit that lowers healthcare premiums.
She also spoke out against President Donald Trump’s signature legislative win of his second term. “The Big Beautiful Bill cut Medicaid and is expected to kick millions of Americans off their health insurance plans, and it’s also expected to close rural hospitals,” Funk said.
College Republicans representative Luke Woodyard responded, saying the government shut down “not because they want to provide everyone that’s an American citizen with healthcare. It’s because they want to provide illegal immigrants with health care.”
“The Big Beautiful Bill did not cut Medicaid, what it did was require people on Medicaid to work 20 hours a week to get free health care from the government,” Thakur said.
On tariffs, Thakur said, “For most of American history, the United States was a manufacturing superpower … and the manufacturing industry was built on tariffs. The President’s tariffs affirm the fundamental principle that making things in America matters.”
College Democrats co-president Alex Young recalled Trump’s first campaign promise of improving the economy and fighting inflation, along with his second campaign promise of imposing retaliatory tariffs. “It’s impossible to square those two initiatives,” Young said.
He argued tariffs do not magically create jobs, especially in industries that no longer need the same number of workers. “Let’s think about basic economics here. When input costs go up, supply goes down,” Young said.
“Tariffs are a tax,” Young said, explaining how Americans feel the impact of this tax on their everyday lives, “40% of Americans, who describe themselves as MAGA, are saying their grocery costs are rising.”
Thakur rebutted, saying, “Tariffs don’t cause inflation.”
In response, Young said, “Tariffs cause inflation, ask your professor.”
On the Israel-Hamas conflict, the College Democrats representatives emphasized a balanced approach to navigating the conflict.
“We can be supportive of Israel as a strategic ally while also encouraging them to use restraint,” Young said. He connected Pope Francis's comments on the globalization of indifference to the need for empathy, saying, “empathy is being willing to stand up for that family in Gaza, but it’s also being willing to hold Netanyahu accountable.”
The College Republicans team focused on President Joe Biden’s failures.
“He failed to stop the offensive in Rafah, he failed to do anything to get Israel to minimize civilian casualties,” Thakur said. However, Thakur voiced agreement with Young, saying, “We agree that the Israeli conduct in the war has gone way too far, and we agree that the broader escalation of this war in the region is not in American interests.”
Thakur labeled Trump’s peace plan as a major success, while Young pushed back, claiming most of this plan was put together by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Both sides voiced a desire for government officials to work together to end the conflict, “but I also think it’s important to understand the differences between how these two administrations handled the conflict and the reality of the peace deal that is now being implemented,” Thakur said.
On political violence, both sides condemned all forms of political violence.
“We cannot tolerate this political violence that is in a large part coming from the left, and even to the small effect that it is coming from the right, it’s from the extreme sect that no one else identifies with,” Woodyard said.
Emphasizing that College Democrats is horrified by political violence, Young said, “We must be appalled by political violence, and we must have events like we’re having tonight at Bridge, where we’re coming together, where we’re talking about the issues, where we’re willing to debate in a civil way.”
In a post-debate interview, Young explained how he thought the debate went well and believed there was respectful dialogue from both sides. “I’m glad we had the chance to present a vision for the Democratic Party moving forward and debate on substantive issues,” Young said.
The College Republicans representatives also felt the debate went well with a good exchange of ideas. Thakur said the debate was a “good opportunity to present the conservative position on some of these different issues on campus.”
Woodyard expressed excitement about the level of attendance, “I’m so happy that so many people came, what a great showing. They had 160 people RSVP, but there were way more than that,” Woodyard said.
In an email, McCurrie stated that Bridge ND hopes the Notre Dame community received the debate well and can see the value in political discourse despite passionate disagreement.
