Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is attempting to revive his stagnant presidential campaign with a grassroots coalition of college students at hundreds of campuses across the nation.
The libertarian-leaning senator recently debuted “Students for Rand,” an outreach effort run only by young volunteers, in a video posted to his campaign website. Paul has guaranteed supporters that his campaign will establish pro-Rand satellite chapters at 300 college campuses by Sept. 12.
“We call it 300 in 30,” he said in a video released approximately one month ahead of the Sept. 12 deadline, hence the 30-day reference.
Each chapter will “recruit new supporters, organize events, and mobilize students to vote for Rand Paul,” according to the Kentucky senator’s campaign. Ultimately, Paul hopes to establish an organized presence of supporters on every college campus in the U.S.
Unlike with other demographics, Paul fares particularly well among young Americans, college students included.
The senator earned a standing ovation at the notoriously liberal University of California, Berkeley, last March and at Bowie State University, a historically black college, earlier this year. Paul also performed the best among youth voters in a general-election matchup against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a CNN/ORC poll released in June.
As far as Paul’s latest effort to reach young voters goes, campaign spokesperson Cliff Maloney says the success has been “overwhelming, but exciting.” According to Maloney, the Kentucky senator’s presidential campaign has already received applications from students interested in starting chapters on their campuses from all 50 states as well as the Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
“We’re going to be knocking on doors and making calls,” Maloney told the Washington Examiner. “We’re not just looking to get people excited, we’re looking to get them plugged in.”
Paul often describes himself as “a different kind of Republican” during town hall meetings and media appearances. But the advantage he claims his libertarian predilections give him has yet to appear in the polls.
The eye doctor-turned-politician currently holds the No. 9 spot in both Iowa and New Hampshire with 3.3 percent and 5 percent, respectively, among Republican voters in both early primary states, according to polling data from RealClearPolitics.
Despite Paul’s steady descent in the polls since announcing his candidacy in early April, Maloney believes his boss’s ideas will keep young adults energized regardless.
“He’s not a flip-flopper and his ideas are the foundation of how we keep young people excited,” says Maloney. “We don’t have to worry about where the poll numbers go because this isn’t about winnability for young people, it’s about the ideas.”
Chris Bedford, a Paul supporter who works with student activists almost daily as a regional field coordinator for the conservative Leadership Institute, says he’s “not sweating the polls.” If anything, Bedford says Paul’s campaign will prove more sustainable in the long-run than GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s because the Kentucky senator “sticks to his guns” and has Millennial support.
“His ground game among young adults is probably the best right now in the Republican field,” Bedford told the Examiner. “Rand is the guy we expect him to be and a firm anti-establishment candidate.”
As the deadline for Paul’s “300 in 30” challenge approaches, Maloney says the campaign is “right on track” and there were never any concerns that they wouldn’t be.
“These students are going to be able to help us get momentum again and serve as ground troops in all 50 states,” Maloney said in a peculiar choice of words considering his boss’ opinion of ground wars.
