A passion for politics

Rachel Richardson has worked for the Barack Obama campaign, founded Portland State Students for Obama and is a Student Fee Committee member. Despite her political involvement, Richardson is only 19 years old and has never voted before.

Since coming to Portland State last year, Richardson said, she has wasted little time acclimating herself.

“I told myself that when I came to PSU, I wanted to get involved any way I could,” Richardson said. “I wanted to get involved with student government because I felt strongly about helping make a difference.”

Her decision to join the Student Fee Committee, which will allocate over $12 million to student groups next year, including the Vanguard, was a good one, she said.

“There are so many passionate students here at PSU,” Richardson said. “I feel encouraged every day that we are making the necessary steps toward a more cohesive future.”

In her first three years of high school, Richardson said, she was not a good student. She did not care about grades and had no desire to be involved with any extracurricular activities. During her senior year at Lake Oswego High School, that all changed.

“Joining the Constitution Law Team that year really opened my eyes and inspired me to get involved at the next level,” Richardson recalled.

When she enrolled at PSU, Richardson had no intention of becoming involved with student government or in this year’s U.S. presidential election. It was when Richardson was watching the Iowa caucus on television that she realized her passion for politics.

“I caught myself cringing every time the new Obama numbers would go down, and cheering when they went up. Until then I didn’t really have a position,” Richardson said. “Obama just struck me as a politician we might be able to trust.”

Richardson trusted and believed in Obama so much that she and a friend created the PSU Students for Obama student group and Facebook.com page for other Obama enthusiasts. The Facebook page allows for Richardson and other members to post campaign events, meeting times and locations online.

On campus, Richardson will be stressing voter registration.

“Right now the most important thing is making sure students are registered to vote,” Richardson said. “Regardless of what candidate students prefer, both Democrat or Republican, we just want to increase the youth vote.”

She will do this no matter the weather.

“Rain or shine, we will be out there with clipboards,” she said.

Last month, when Obama was in town to speak at the Memorial Coliseum, Richardson was asked to speak in front of the large crowd and was pleased to take part.

Despite her enthusiastic support of Obama, Richardson said that if Hillary Clinton were to win the Democratic nomination she would support her.

“With all the problems and issues at stake, I’m not going to let personal preference get in the way of the bigger picture,” she said.