Editor’s note: Updated version as of April 29 at 6:15 p.m.

Kent State University student and president of the College Republicans, Dillon Lloyd will represent himself and the university after being elected vice chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation.

Lloyd, junior criminal justice and political science major, will take office next school year after showing just how effective he can be, even in a predominantly Democratic area of the state.

“[Kent] is known for being a pretty blue area, so to have a good red chapter up here that everyone in the state recognizes, that elected officials recognize, as a hardworking chapter — it just feels good,” Lloyd said. “It makes me proud to be a Kent student and head of this chapter.”

After volunteering for one of the most successful campaigns this past election for republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Lloyd said his work at Kent is paying off.

Lloyd led members of the College Republicans to contact close to 45,000 registered voters and made a name for himself in the process. The group also beat the Ohio State University chapter in door knocking.

“To beat Ohio State, which is an absolutely huge chapter in comparison to ours, which is 18 strong on a good day, was a major feat on our part,” Lloyd said. “That’s what I think really got me recognized as a hard worker and dedicated to the cause.”

Lloyd said his running mate, Lucas Denney of Ohio State, came to him a few months ago because of all of his hard work. Lloyd and Denney ran unopposed after gaining much support before the election from other members.

“Most OCRF races, usually there is more than one person running, but I think again the fact that Lucas and myself were so well-liked and such hard workers, I think that was actually beneficial and people thought, ‘These two can really get it done,'” Lloyd said. “We had endorsement letters from chapters all across the state.”

But it was first at Kent that Lloyd said he learned how to handle leading a group of people with a common goal and how to handle adversity.

“Here, it taught me how to take a curveball,” Lloyd said. “During the campaign, you never really know what was going to happen, and it’s a constant bombardment of ‘Can you do this?’ and ‘Can you do that?’ So you kind of have to be able to adjust yourself and become flexible and get the job done right, which is something that Kent State did.”

Until then, Lloyd said he is working with other members of the Kent State chapter as well as the OCRF to get ready for the 2014 Ohio gubernatorial race.

“One thing we want to do is send representatives from each of our [College Republicans] chapter[s] to Virginia for their governor race in 2013,” Lloyd said. “So that will be good training for them, and it’s kind of like a little vacation to go away, learn, hang out and meet some new people.”

Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected].