The ACU College Republicans braved a cold October night to host a tailgate party at Shotwell Stadium last Staurday.

The tailgate is a biannual event held on both national and state election years to raise political awareness.

Parker Gordon, vice president of the ACU College Republicans, said the group’s goal is to get students involved and make sure students are aware.

“Our main purpose was to get name recognition out there for people to just see the Republican presence,” said Gordon, junior music and political science major from Stephenville.

At the game on Saturday, the College Republicans had a table set up with yard signs, literature and bumper stickers supporting Republican candidates provided by the Taylor County Republican Party, along with free pizza.

“Typically, we find a lot of students aren’t politically active or aren’t politically aware of what’s going on, so our main focus is to reach out to the college body as a whole and basically just inform them,” Gordon said.

The Republican tailgate tradition started four years ago to support the candidates of the 2008 election.

“I think people took it with a fairly open mind. Mainly, we had a lot of people that were cheering us on,” Gordon said. “We’re out there trying to get people informed and people were like ‘We love what you’re doing.’ It was very encouraging for us to get that feedback from members the community.”

Stewart McGregor, junior Christian ministry and political science major from Arlington, said the response to the tailgate and their involvement was overwhelmingly positive and it was nice to have people encourage and appreciate what they were doing.

The first of three watch parties took place last night. Other watch parties scheduled include one on October 16 for the debate forum and another on election night, November 6.

Snacks will be provided and all events are free.

“We invite anybody that is either Republican or that’s not sure yet and is still undecided,” McGregor said.

For more information about the group and upcoming events, visit the ACU College Republican’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/acugop.