The College Democrats of Maryland recently held their annual Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. It was a brisk, cold morning when students from chapters across the state met outside the Capitol Visiting Center on November 16th. Members from Salisbury, Towson, and UMBC split up into three groups and met with several different U.S. Congressmembers.
My group, for instance, met with staffers from Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. John Sarbanes, and Senator Claire McCaskill’s offices. We discussed legislation dealing with climate change, healthcare, college tuition, and campaign finance reform. My two group members and I stressed how important some of these issues were to us. We also asked the staff we met with how they found themselves working on The Hill and what their day-to-day jobs involved. One group of students ran into Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez!
After my group had lunch in the Rayburn Cafeteria, we met up with the rest of the College Democrats for an hour-long tour of the Capitol Building. Then, we took one last group picture outside and went out for dinner. On the (very long) car ride back to Salisbury, my friends and I swapped stories of our days. While we all had slightly different experiences, we all agreed on one thing: we would definitely be back again next year.
– Carissa Antonis, CDMD Secretary
