In the race for Princeton Borough mayor, challenger Kim Pimley has begun courting University students for votes in her primary bid to unseat incumbent Mildred Trotman.
As the June 5 election date nears, Steve Marcus '10 has been hired by Pimley's campaign to coordinate activities on campus, from posting facebook.com flyers to organizing dinners with the candidate.
"I don't really have a job title — I've been doing campaign research, helping plan events on campus, registering students to vote and developing campaign strategies," Marcus said in an email.
Marcus, who is from St. Louis, Mo., said he first heard about Pimley and her campaign through a College Democrats email.
"[Pimley] is doing a lot to attract to students — it's ridiculous that in the last mayoral primary, eight out of over 1,000 eligible students voted. Only around 750 people total voted in the last primary," Marcus said.
Marcus said that the Borough could be improved with more student participation. "Kim has a lot of great ideas to integrate more students into the government," Marcus said.
So far, Marcus and the campaign have held an organizational dinner meeting with the College Democrats. Pimley was present to listen to and discuss Borough and town-gown issues.
Cindy Hong '09, who is the College Democrats campaign coordinator, said that Pimley is making a "huge effort" to reach out to student voters.
"The dinner with Kim Pimley was another way for students to learn about local elections. We were especially interested in why someone who is new to campaigning was running for mayor," Hong said.
"Some issues that were raised include what she wanted to do with the space that the current University Medical Center at Princeton occupies," Hong said. "We also discussed how she would involve students in local politics."
Trotman was not included in the event. Hong said that there were several reasons for her absence, but one was that her campaign had not yet responded to the College Democrats. "Following last Wednesday's debate, I asked Mayor Trotman's campaign if they wanted College Democrats' help to reach out to Princeton students but have yet to hear back from her," Hong said.
Hong also said that the tight academic schedule may prevent the College Democrats from hosting a dinner with Trotman. The two candidates participated in a debate on town-gown issues in McCormick Hall last week.
Aside from meetings and on-campus events, Marcus and the campaign have bought Facebook ads.
"Facebook guarantees 10,000 hits a day for $5 a day," Marcus explained. "It's a great investment to get name recognition for Kim ... Hopefully, it'll get some people looking into Kim's positions on the issues."
Hong said the College Democrats are not planning on endorsing a mayoral candidate for election. "We mostly just want students to be aware of local elections. They are also where students' votes can make the most difference," she said.
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