While Elan Weinberger has no issue with astronauts, professional athletes or any other profession many are interested in as children, he always aimed a bit higher.
“I just always wanted to be President of the United States,” he said. “I’ve always had an interest in politics.”
Weinberger, of New City, will have to wait a little bit before he can officially run for office, but the 18-year-old will continue his path to a career in politics this fall when he attends George Washington University in Washington D.C. He intends to major in international relations and political science. He’s also an intern this summer for Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin, who is running in November in the 17th Congressional District.
About three weeks ago, Weinberger was picked to be the president and chair of the Rockland County Young Republicans.
“Right now we’re focused on the restructuring and organization of the group,” he said. “We used to have a lot of members, but people move or just stop showing up. It kind of fell through when there wasn’t much going on.”
Part of Weinberger’s plan for the summer is start reaching out to former members of the group, to see if they’d be interested in getting involved again or to see what they liked and didn’t like about the group previously, as well as encouraging members of the county party to try and bring in new recruits. He’s also hoping to find a past member who will be local in the fall so Weinberger will have someone as vice president of the group to help organize while he’s in D.C. Weinberger said he’ll be back in Rockland during the fall to help out, but he’ll stay in constant contact with the group through email and phone calls.
Another big plan for the summer is to doing some youth outreach.
“One thing I’d like to do is possibly go to camps and talk to the counselors about the importance of voting,” he said. “A lot of counselors are around the age where this will be the first time they can vote.”
Weinberger himself falls into that category, and it’s made the experience of working for the Republican party this year different from past years.
“Now that I look at it more and more, the work I’m doing is indirectly helping the Republican party trying to take back the White House,” he said. “I’m putting my own effort into these elections, and if the Republicans lose any of them, I think I’ll be a lot more upset than I was before.”
Another way Weinberger will help out the party in the coming months is by going door-to-door and handing out literature. He thinks that not only is spreading awareness about voting important, but the group needs to also help educate the public about the candidates.
Weinberger said because of that, he’d also like to collaborate with the local Young Democrats and possibly co-sponsor a debate with local candidates.
Anyone interested in joining the Rockland County Young Republicans, or who would like some more info about the group is asked to go the group's website (http://www.rocklandyrs.com) or email: info@RocklandYRs.com.
