Six IU students wearing red Holcomb for Indiana shirts sat around a kitchen table Saturday afternoon with ear buds in to make calls to potential voters.
“Hi, my name is Steven,” Steven Aranyi, a senior, said. “I’m with the Eric Holcomb campaign for governor, and I was just calling to see if you were planning on voting for Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb or John Gregg in the upcoming election.”
These students are members of the College Republicans and called as a part of the Eric Holcomb campaign’s Super Saturday, a statewide event to reach out to likely voters across the state. Volunteers went door-to-door in the Indianapolis area, and members of the College Republicans gathered at IU senior and College Republicans Chairman Brian Gamache’s house to cold call likely voters.
Volunteers placed calls through the I360 app, which has an automated list of likely or persuadable voters formulated by the campaign, Gamache said.
Gamache said volunteers follow a script, introduce themselves, say they are with the Holcomb campaign and ask voters if they know who they plan on voting for yet.
“In Bloomington, especially at IU, there are a lot of voices on one side of the issue,” Gamache said. “We’re the other side, so it’s really a different way of looking at this, and we think we have a really good message.”
The main goal right now is to get Eric Holcomb’s name out, because Holcomb has been a public servant for many years, but is not as well known across the state as he should be, Gamache said.
Their approach is bottom-up, with a focus on innovation and equal opportunity, Gamache said. People feel like the American Dream is not accessible anymore, and Eric Holcomb wants to address this.
Holcomb and running mate Suzanne Crouch are known consensus builders with proven records of supporting responsible policies that lead to economic growth and progress for our state, Caroline McKinney, press secretary for the Holcomb campaign, said.
Holcomb has not only had a front row seat to Indiana’s growth during the past 12 years, he’s been at the table with our past two governors helping to build coalitions and do big things, McKinney said.
“He has been behind the scenes for so long, but he has always been the voice of reason at the table,” Gamache said. “I’m really excited to see him running for governor.”
Holcomb is focused on the local level, Gamache said. The candidate has visited all 92 counties, and he has relationships across the state.
In the Bloomington area, Holcomb’s staff is particularly focused on building relationships with and listening to the concerns of voters in town and on campus, McKinney said.
The College Republicans, in particular, will be campaigning for Holcomb around the IU campus and in the Bloomington area, Gamache said.
“The IU College Republicans are an incredibly active group of students are engaged with the campaign and we couldn’t be more happy to have their support,” McKinney said.
The group want to ensure that students’ voices are heard, McKinney said.
“This campaign is not only about doing what’s best to continue Indiana’s momentum today, but to continue building a strong foundation for that momentum for the future,” McKinney said.
