GW for Hillary kicks off mock campaign to support Clinton

A group on campus is hoping to kick off Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid at GW with a bang.

Junior Madeline Beecher, president of GW for Hillary, said the student group will run a mock version of the Clinton campaign on campus, beginning with a video release on Monday. Leaders of the group say that GW for Hillary will focus on spreading awareness of Clinton’s platform to GW students, organizing supporters and sponsoring events like phonebanking and canvassing trips to inspire more students to support her campaign.

GW for Hillary will launch the video online featuring students who support Clinton explaining why they hope to vote for her using one of the official campaign hashtags, #ImWithHer.

“People around the country, especially students, have been organizing groups of people posting #ImWithHer,” said Beecher. “In the video we’ll be sharing why we’re with her.”

The video will mimic the official campaign, Hillary for America, that launched in April.

The University already has ties to Clinton’s campaign. Ready for Hillary, a super PAC dedicated to demonstrating support for Clinton and encouraging her to run for president, was run by a professor and several students worked for the organization.

Beecher, who met Clinton this summer when she interned at the campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, said Clinton had been her “role model” since she was young.

“When you think women in politics, you think Hillary Clinton. I’ve always wanted to be involved in politics. We are in an age now that finally women are getting so involved and the [former Secretary of State] has been at the forefront of that fight,” said Beecher.

Beecher said she is in talks with a campaign staffer she met during her summer internship to organize an overnight trip to the Clinton campaign in Iowa.

GW for Hillary’s seven executive board members are also reaching out to members of Congress to speak at GW and rally support for Clinton. Some of her most well-known and earliest supporters in Congress include Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Alex Barbieri, a senior and the vice president of GW for Hillary, said that student campaigns like GW for Hillary could improve traction for Clinton’s campaign.

“GW is a community of 25,000 students, the equivalent of a small town. Students on this campus have the potential to have a real impact on the outcome of the elections,” Barbieri said.

Paul Lisbon, an executive board member specializing in multicultural outreach and fundraising, stressed the importance of a Clinton campaign team considering GW’s location and politically conscious student body.

“As the most politically active campus in the nation, it would be insane for us not to participate in what may be the biggest race of our lives,” Lisbon said.