U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–Dearborn) visited campus on Saturday to speak with members of Ann Arbor’s Students for Hillary.
Dingell discussed her reasons for supporting Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic nomination and said she would help Students for Hillary in any way she can in its efforts leading up to the Michigan primary on March 8.
Dingell drew from her personal experiences working with Clinton in advocating for her candidacy.
“I do want (Clinton) to win, to be perfectly frank,” she said. “I’m competitive. I worked with Hillary. I saw her work with John (Dingell) on health care in the ’90s, and she is the best person for the job.”
Students for Hillary has been organizing phone banks since last fall, during which students call potential voters and attempt to convince them to vote for Clinton in the upcoming primaries. Recently, the group has worked to call voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, but as Michigan’s primary nears, the group is turning it’s attention to Michigan.
LSA sophomore Anushka Sarkar, event coordinator and outreach director of Students for Hillary, said the group is phone banking because it is important voters hear why supporters are voting for Clinton.
“This is an important state for Hillary Clinton because she has a lot of strong support here,” she said. “We want to make sure we do our duties to get the grassroots support by reaching out and making sure they’ve heard from us because we know that is probably the most important part of any campaign.”
Sarkar added that Students for Hillary is currently working on organizing a joint event with Students for Sanders in the form of a policy discussion night, where panelists would discuss issues important to students including mental health, sexual assault on campus and college affordability.
Dingell said she greatly appreciates the efforts the students are making to support Clinton and expressed her willingness to help.
“I think your getting on the phone, talking as young people, telling them why you believe in her is really important,” she said. “You don’t know how much of a difference you make. Tell me what I need to do to help. I’ll do anything with you guys.”
LSA freshman, David Scharf, said he attended the phone bank to express his support.
“I’m very passionate for Hillary for America,” he said. “I just really want to help in whatever ways I can to ensure that Hillary is elected.”
As the March primary debate nears, Michigan is slated to see an increase in attention from both Clinton and Sanders. Clinton visited Flint last Sunday and her daughter Chelsea visited Thursday. Sanders will give a speech at Eastern Michigan University on Monday as well.