Republican and Democratic Students Go Head-to-Head at Debate Night

In a debate between the Harvard College Democrats and the Harvard Republican Club, members from both organizations discussed their party’s stance on economics, foreign policy, and immigration on April 1.

Moderated by Government Professor Daniel Carpenter, the panelists’ discussion took place before a packed lecture hall in the Science Center.

The room was so full that an audience member held a Zoom call on his phone for the overflow crowd to watch the debate.

Leo A. Koerner ’26, president of the HRC, praised the Trump administrations’ efforts to decrease illegal immigration and suggested strategies to curb immigration overall, such as restricting the process to only “highly skilled, desirable people.”

Referencing the detainment of Rumeysa Ozturk and the deportation of Abrego Garcia, Koerner said, “immigration reforms, like economic policy, will be hard. It will be these stories that we’re hearing that the Democrats have provided.”

“But for every one of those stories, is a far more tragic story of an American citizen being murdered or seriously beaten by an illegal alien.”

Henry D. Pahlow ’28 from the Harvard College Democrats criticized the Trump administration’s hardline approach on immigration.

“Trump has eliminated the rule of law — displacing individuals with legitimate asylum claims — and strained our resources — preventing officials from targeting those who actually pose a legitimate threat,” said Pahlow.

He added that President Donald Trump has “shown no respect” for the “humanity of migrants” and uses “immigration as a political tool and talking point without offering real solutions.”

While Pahlow argued for the beauty of the “melting pot” of America and urged the audience to embrace demographic change, Koerner said that some parts of the country are “not like America.”

In these areas — using parts of New York as an example — he said, “this is not a question of the people, but about language. It’s about culture.”

“It’s about illegal economies. It’s about things that are seriously bad for democracy and for serious working normal economies,” he said.

Ian Chung ’28 represented the Harvard College Democrats in the segment discussing the U.S. economy.

“Trumponomics is designed to benefit not the everyday American, but to enrich the wealthiest Americans,” Chung said.

He added that Trump and “president Musk” are “not on our side” with their fundamental goal being to “funnel more wealth in this country to the top one percent.”

In response, Carter A. Stewart ’25 from the HRC began his introduction by “attacking” the Harvard undergraduate students in the audience and said, “those cushy finance consulting, NGO jobs that you’re recruiting for, that you’re studying for, they’re not going to exist very soon, and they shouldn't exist.”

“Like the middle class in this country for about 50 years, it’s time for all of you and all of us, quite frankly, to feel the pain of seeing the comfortable lifestyle that we expect for ourselves disappear before our eyes,” he said.

Chung also answered a question about the Democratic party and the Biden administration’s contributions to the national debt, criticizing not only the “cruel way” Republicans have been “treating federal workers” but also the disappointing top-line estimate of DOGE’s 250-billion-dollar savings.

“It’s a lot of money. It’s not trillions upon trillions of dollars that Republicans are adding to the deficit,” Chung said of the DOGE funding cuts.

“It’s like giving someone herpes and also giving them a free gym membership,” he added. “You appreciate the gym membership as a matter of principle, but you still have herpes!”

Stewart said in response, “I feel no sympathy for people who are working for the federal government in totally comfortable jobs, and have had those jobs for years and years and years, and have presided over other Americans — millions of Americans — losing their jobs, and done nothing about it.”

“I’m sorry, it’s unfortunate, but this is the country that we live in, and the federal government is not going to be a jobs program anymore for liberals,” he added.

—Staff writer Sophia Y. King can be reached at sophia.king@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sophia_kingg.
—Staff writer Anneliese S. Mattox can be reached at anneliese.mattox@thecrimson.com.