Monday night, Cory Roma was elected vice president of the Young Democrats of Allegheny County (YDAC) — just days after news circulated that he was one of two men charged with rioting at the University of Pittsburgh’s campus earlier this month during the re-establishment of the pro-Palestinian encampment there.
Mr. Roma was charged with obstructing the law, disorderly conduct and defiant trespassing, according to court documents.
Monday’s election was the first explicit connection between the rowdier elements of the protests and the local Democratic Party establishment.
Mr. Roma, who declined to comment for this story, is a self-proclaimed progressive Democrat deeply involved in local left-wing politics, according to his online presence.
The day after his arrest, Mr. Roma posted to X a photo of himself with friends — including progressive Allegheny County Council member Bethany Hallam, who also sits on the Jail Oversight Board — standing in front of the Allegheny County Jail, captioned: “With friends like these, I can overcome any challenge.”
He maintains a steady flow of progressive content, whether it be sharing videos from the Pitt encampment or his campaigning on behalf of local progressive politicians like U.S. Rep. Summer Lee.
He is an active public voice at county meetings, according to Sam DeMarco, a Republican council member and leader of the Allegheny County GOP.
Mr. DeMarco pinned Mr. Roma’s election squarely on the shoulders of the Democratic Party, which he said has veered too far left, far past the party of their parents and grandparents.
Mr. Roma’s election to YDAC leadership in spite of criminal charges is emblematic of the state of politics more generally, according to experts.
“In both cases — on the far right and the far left — you’ll hear a disregard for public order,” said Joseph Mistick, an associate professor of law at Duquesne University and former deputy mayor under Sophie Masloff. The wings of each party may be willing to look past criminal charges and convictions to stand by causes they support.
This split, often between generations, comes down to the underlying issues at play, said Paul Sracic, a social sciences professor at Youngstown State University.
“How you feel about the charges against this young man is going to be based on what you feel about what’s going on in the Middle East,” Mr. Sracic said.
Although Ms. Hallam and a majority of YDAC voters showed their support for Mr. Roma after his arrest, not everyone in the Democratic Party will likely be happy with that, said Mr. Sracic. For Democratic politicians, the Middle East has created “no safe place to be,” he said.
“You need every vote in this election, because this is a 50/50, race … particularly in the states like Pennsylvania,” said Mr. Sracic, who noted the Vietnam War protests cost the Democratic Party in the 1968 election, which Richard Nixon won: “History is repeating itself, but the Democrats have to hope it's not exactly repeating itself, right?”
Mr. Sracic said that's why incidents like Mr. Roma’s election can be “a bad thing” for the Democrats — “because it brings this kind of thing to a head. This is somebody involved in your organization, in a quasi-leadership role, who is directly connected to this issue.”
The parallel continues into Watergate, he said, where some of the public questioned the political motive to oust then-President Nixon. Similar allegations have arisen in Donald Trump’s conviction for far-right voters who believe he was prosecuted for political gain.
“In both these cases, the nature of the offense is not seen by most people as being something very serious. So again, it's not the criminality of it,” Mr. Sracic said.
Throughout U.S. history, “criminal activity in the form of civil disobedience has generally not been a disqualifier for political leadership or office,” said Jeff Brauer, political science professor at Keystone College. “The longtime congressman from Georgia, John Lewis, had been arrested several times during protests for the Black Civil Rights movement. Such activity is often lauded in history,” he said.
Mr. Mistick agreed: “With civil disobedience, you have to be willing to accept the society’s condemnation in exchange for expressing your views in a manner not consistent with the law… but you have to be careful you don’t cross the line,” he said.
Mr. Mistick also noted a transformation in YDAC itself.
“When I was a Young Democrat, it was sort of the waiting room for the Democratic party,” he said. “Well, the party’s in turmoil now, so it’s no longer a cohesive organization where the Young Democrats and the Democrats are necessarily on the same page.”
Mr. Mistick said, “Both parties are in a state of flux, and we don’t know yet where they’re going to land. Trumpism is a problem for the regular Republican party, and progressivism is a problem for regular Democrats.”
Mr. Brauer said Trump is testing the limits. “Criminal activity and conviction beyond civil disobedience has ended many a political career,” he said. “Trump's supporters truly do not seem to care about his convictions and are attacking the system/institutions as corrupt with no evidence. Ultimately, this is very dangerous to the survival of American institutions and democracy itself.”
But Mr. Mistick said he believes the parties themselves have begun to move back to the center. Polls show some erosion of support for Trump, whose primary opponent Nikki Haley performed surprisingly well among Republicans in Pennsylvania and other states — even after she had withdrawn from the race. Likewise, heavily Democratic Allegheny County recently rejected Matt Dugan, the progressive nominee for District Attorney last November, and elected progressive Sara Innamorato in a far closer election than anticipated.
“Just as you’re seeing Trumpism erode in the Republican party… more Democrats are moving away from progressivism,” he said. “The question then is, do the extreme ends double down?”
First Published: June 25, 2024, 10:44 p.m.
Updated: June 26, 2024, 2:03 p.m.