Harris-Walz also sent mailers to students bashing Trump
Students at the University of Georgia received text messages and mailers from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign urging them to vote for her.
College Republicans at UGA confirmed with The College Fix that Georgia students received these texts following initial reports by Arizona State University’s CRs chapter.
“100,000+ Georgia STUDENTS and some PARENTS from MULTIPLE Georgia Colleges have received a text from Kamala Harris’ campaign telling the students to vote for her,” College Republicans at ASU wrote in a post on X.
The ASU chapter did not respond to requests for comment from The Fix via email and phone calls to ask how the group verified the number of students that received these texts.
College Republicans at UGA Chairman Luke Winkler sent The Fix screenshots of a text he received.
“Hi Dawgs, it’s Kamala Harris,” it reads, a reference to the university’s bulldog mascot.
“Tim Walz and I are the underdogs in this election, but student voters could make the difference. We need your support to win. As a University of Georgia student, you can register and vote in Georgia,” it reads in part.
Brenton Sykes, UGA College Republicans outreach director, told The Fix via email that while he “cannot confirm a widespread trend across the state,” he and several of his friends did receive this message.
“I assume if they were targeting me, a Republican, they were not limiting their reach,” he said.
“I really do wonder how they got my contact information, considering I have never donated to any Democrat let alone Harris, and my phone number shouldn’t be public information on my voter profile,” Sykes told The Fix.
He said he hopes “the Harris campaign simply paid a consulting firm that did the hard work of locating people who were enrolled at University in Georgia and cross referenced with some hidden data all political campaigns have.”
“[B]ut I do suspect the Harris campaign was able to obtain detailed contact information for all students, whether by public requirement or something more active,” Sykes said.
He also said that he received physical “pro-Harris literature” in the mail, which outlined some of her proposals on the economy and entitlement programs and slammed former President Donald Trump.
“I suspect these were mailed to the same students who received the texts and got my information the same way, although I cannot confirm how many students get these mailers beyond me,” Sykes said.
“These are not smart investments since college students definitely aren’t going to be swayed by a mailer or encouraged to go out and vote,” he said.
MORE: Students’ private FERPA data given to third-party voting firm
UGA College Republicans’ events coordinator, Chaston Atkins, told The College Fix in a phone interview that he also received text messages and mail from the Harris campaign, but has “no clue…how they’re doing it.”
He said the campaign may be using “social media or some sort of algorithm” that could be AI-assisted.
When asked about the campus climate for free speech and political viewpoints, Atkins said it has been “hostile” at times.
He said his group has hosted events with conservative guests, such as Congressman Mike Collins and political pundit Charlie Kirk, during which pro-Palestinian and left-leaning groups on campus harassed the speakers.
During the event with Collins, protesters “were yelling at him” and “calling him a murderer.” They accused him of “wanting to kill Palestinian children” and other “baseless accusations” to “intimidate him and berate him and our students,” Atkins said.
However, the school as a whole, according to Sykes, is not “particularly politically biased.”
“I would not be surprised if UGA had a closer voting split for President than expected, or less students voting than expected,” Sykes told The Fix.
The Fix also reached out last week via email and phone to the Georgia Association of College Republicans, UGA political science Professor Audrey Haynes, GSU political science Professor Jennifer McCoy, UGA privacy law Professor Thomas Kadri, and Coweta County Republican Party Chairman Brandt Frost for comment. None responded.
UGA media relations referred The Fix to the University System of Georgia, which did not respond to email or voicemail.
Georgia State University media relations also did not respond to a request for comment to determine if students at that school received texts and mailers as well.
While Sykes said the school is not politically biased, it appears to at least have a significant number of Trump supporters. Last month, conservative political commentator Benny Johnson posted a video to X showing a “sea” of Trump supporters on campus at UGA.
“This is how Kamala’s pathetically futile efforts to engage young voters were received today at the University of Georgia,” he stated.
“A SEA of college students in MAGA hats ravenously chanting ‘USA!’” Johnson stated.
Georgia students are not the only ones receiving texts from the Harris campaign. College Republicans at ASU also reported that 70,000 students at the school received similar texts, The College Fix previously reported.
In response, Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman announced he will immediately launch a “full Senate investigation,” citing a “major security breach” of Arizona law.
Additionally, ASU religious studies Professor Owen Anderson posted a screenshot on X Monday of a text he received inviting university employees to vote for democrats.
“Join actress Sophia Bush, Sen. Mark Kelly, Rep. Gabby Giffords, Emma Brown, and Former US Amb. Susan Rice today at 11:45 AM outside the Memorial Union to chat about early voting on campus and voting for Kamala Harris, Ruben Gallego, and Democrats up and down the ballot,” the text reads.
“A clear violation but no one will be held responsible,” Anderson stated.
Students at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and UW-Madison have also received emails from the Harris-Walz campaign.
MORE: Universities should ‘prevent outsiders’ from accessing data, ASU prof says
IMAGE: College Republicans at ASU/X
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