Ella Bruno, the co-host of the Beyond the Ballot podcast. (Courtesy of Ella Bruno)

Arianna Zeldin, the founder of the Beyond the Ballot podcast. (Isabella Diaz Mira | Photo Editor)

First-year Arianna Zeldin recently started a new conservative podcast titled Beyond the Ballot and invited sophomore Ella Bruno, the current president of the WashU Republicans, to be a co-host. The podcast, which intends to host Chancellor Andrew Martin in its forthcoming second episode, explains that it will provide “Conservative views, Bold discussions, unfiltered takes on today’s political climate.” 

Zeldin, who is the daughter of the current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, said she started the Beyond the Ballot podcast to encourage conservatives on campus to be more vocal about their beliefs. 

“Even if they’re not vocal themselves, it’s so someone [has] a voice for them, because conservatives here on campus are definitely in the minority,” Zeldin said. “Right now, everyone’s pretty much quiet, so my goal is to reach these conservatives on campus [so they] speak out for themselves.” 

Zeldin said that she reached out to Chancellor Martin and he agreed to appear on her podcast. 

“I won’t reveal my full playbook, but I’m really glad he is coming on for episode two,” she said. 

Julie Flory, the vice chancellor for marketing and communications, wrote in an email to Student Life that Chancellor Martin often participates in media like the new podcast. 

“Chancellor Martin is often invited to speak to different groups and organizations, including in media interviews. He always welcomes the opportunity to speak with students and since he was available, he agreed to participate in this podcast,” Flory said. 

Bruno said she agreed to co-host the podcast in order to promote more diverse opinions at WashU and specified her perspective on it to be a “Catholic conservative.”

“As a Christian, I consider myself traditional in many aspects which is why I prefer the term conservative. … Being Republican is such a minor attribute of myself as I try to focus my efforts on supporting the causes of the Christian faith,” Bruno wrote in a comment to Student Life. 

On WashU’s campus, conservative students are in the minority. In a Student Life survey of 696 WashU students before the 2024 presidential election, only 6.64% respondents identified as Republicans, while 77.78% said they were Democrats and the remaining 15.56% identified as independents or members of another party.

According to the Washington University Group Organizer (WUGO) list of student organizations, WashU’s College Democrats club lists over 100 registered members while the College Republicans club only lists 40 registered members.  

In the first episode of the podcast, which served as an introduction and did not focus on any specific issues, Zeldin and Bruno discussed what they saw as discrimination against conservatives on campus. Bruno alleged that she was rejected from Phi Delta Phi (PDP), a pre-law fraternity at WashU, for her political beliefs.

“I was rejected immediately, and I heard from an exec member … that I was not welcome because my conservative beliefs, and even though diversity is such a big deal, they didn’t want that kind of diversity,” Bruno said on the podcast. 

Student Life reached out to members of PDP’s executive board, who denied that political beliefs influenced their decision, but declined to provide a comment on the record.

The two also discussed an anonymous comment on Sidechat that references Bruno. 

“The conservative podcast got to be a joke, I don’t know how ‘miss conservative’ can show her face on campus,” the post reads. 

Bruno said on the podcast that she was not deterred by the post or other instances of pushback. 

“I use experiences like this as motivation and fuel for our mission. I used to get really worked up about things like this … but over time I have slowly overcome it,” Bruno said of the post. “I’ve learned to almost embrace the hate.” 

In addition, the two discussed their backgrounds, and Bruno spoke about how coming to WashU was a difficult transition for her. 

“I’m from a small town in Missouri where generally everyone is Christian and conservative, so when I came to WashU I didn’t know that my beliefs were not going to be welcome,” Bruno explained on the podcast. 

In contrast, Zeldin said that in part because of her father, political discourse was a norm throughout her childhood. 

“Growing up in a political household, it’s always been the regular to just speak your beliefs, and that is a mentality he has instilled into me,” she said on the podcast.

Zeldin said she expected backlash to the podcast, but does not view this as inherently negative. 

“If I get backlash one day saying ‘I did not like what you said, here’s a couple reasons as to why’ … [it] will give me something that I can grow on, I can research more about, and I can maybe have a new segment on,” Zeldin said. 

Additional reporting by Lauren Smith and Lily Taylor.