Democratic candidates stump alongside comedians in effort to engage young voters
Efforts to educate voters ― especially young voters — about the upcoming primary election took a comedic turn in Bloomington recently, ahead of early voting that begins April 9 and runs through May 6 at 302 S. Walnut St.
Jan Gudaitis, known as “Deadpan Jan” to those who regularly see her perform at the Comedy Attic, is known for her unrushed, monotone delivery in her stand-up routines.
But during her set last Wednesday at the Comedy Attic — at an event hosted by the Monroe County Democratic Party and College Democrats at Indiana University that interspersed stand-up routines from local comedians with candidate panels for Democrats running for county councilor, state senate, attorney general and more — Gudaitis confessed she was feeling nervous.
“They usually have me here to bring life and energy to the Comedy Attic,” she said in a decidedly unenergetic tone. “But now I’m supposed to bring life to the Democratic Party. That's not going to be easy.”
It was one of many jokes that landed well with the crowd that night, some made by other local comedians like Sohile Ali and Jonas Schrodt, and some — per occasion — made by the Democratic candidates themselves.
Wednesday night’s combination candidate-forum-comedy-event was organized by Bloomington High School North senior and Monroe County Democratic Party intern Ben Giddens, a youth political activist who, like the candidates on the panels, was trying to think of ways to make voting and informed citizenship engaging, fun, and maybe even funny, for young voters.
“My original idea was to do a general forum, but I felt that wouldn’t be as engaging to young voters,” Giddens said. “So I figured, why not try to bring some entertainment in?”
The result was a fast-paced, informative, and somewhat whiplash-inducing event, transitioning from Shelli Yoder defending reproductive access to local comedian Sohile Ali joking about exercising with senior citizens and his Afghan-Hoosier upbringing in a matter of minutes.
“Whoo, following abortion,” Ali said as he began his set. “That’s a tough one.”
Josh Montagne, a member of College Democrats at IU, hoped the event made politics more accessible to young people and college students by “lightening the mood.”
“It just embraces the audience,” Montagne said. “Some college students are like, ‘I don’t wanna hear someone speak for three hours.’ Well, now you have a nice break up with the comedians.
Candidates at the forum were asked a spate of questions important to youth voters and college students, ranging from national debates like reproductive access to more local issues like housing affordability and the Monroe County jail site.
Following the roughly hour-thirty event, candidates and audience members stuck around to strike up conversations and talk more at length about policy.
Montagne said youth participation is critically important in both local and national politics, noting the decisive role the youth vote — especially in college towns — played in Democratic victories in 2020 and 2022.
He believes a critical part in continuing that trend is events like the forum that seek to make politics more accessible.
“We’re trying to meet students where they are,” Montagne said. “We have voter registration drives every week, and we’re getting more and more people. Last year, we had 600 people register to vote. Our goal this year is 1,000.”
Giddens said he hopes the event encouraged voters to get curious about state and local politics, and spread the word to their friends.
“I hope in turn that they can spread the word about all these great candidates, and maybe even get the turnout up,” Giddens said.
Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Stand-up comedy, Democratic candidate forum merge in Bloomington
