WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Putting politics aside and working together is the goal for the Young Democrats and Young Republicans of Palm Beach County. Still, the heads of the groups said they are having difficulty finding common ground.
"We are towing our party lines, which is important because there is a lot at stake here," said Rob Long, the head of the Palm Beach County Young Democrats. "In my opinion, what is at stake is the legitimacy of our electoral process."
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"The second anyone raises concerns about what is happening right now, legitimate concerns, they’re pushed to the side," said Caroline Melear, the vice president of the Young Republicans of Palm Beach County. "It is not right. It is not fair, and Donald Trump, of all people, will not put up with it."
Both disagree on what needs to happen moving forward with the presidential election.
"If there is legitimate fraud, Donald Trump is the one man in the world who is going to fight as hard as he can to expose it," Melear said. "If there is not legitimate fraud, we need to put it to bed, and we need to continue to find a way to work together. But it needs to be investigated, and it needs to be looked at, and when it's completely pushed aside, and there is no evidence, you have to look for it. You have to find it!"
"Caroline, you can't make accusations and then try to find the evidence," Long responded.
The conversations in their clubs are drastically different as well. Long said they are hopeful about a Joe Biden presidency but not happy with the election in Florida.
"There has been a lot of talk about what is our party structure here in Florida looking like going forward," Long said. "There is going to have to be drastic changes, especially the younger generation. We feel like this may be the time we need to step up and take more leadership roles in the party because we are not happy with what happened."
Melear said she is cautioning her members about spreading misinformation on social media.
"Our group is ready to continue to defend the president, and if and when this goes to the courts, and it is determined there is no widespread fraud that could be proven, then it's time to say we did our part. We made sure we thoroughly investigated this, and now it is time to accept the results," she said. "But we will see how it plays out."
The one thing they can seem to agree on is that Florida did better than most swing states with delivering swift results.
"Well, I think we can be really proud of Florida," said Melear.
