Student body president candidate Colton Whisenant and his team have begun a text campaign after acquiring an unknown number of students’ phone numbers and the associated names. 

Five text conversations reviewed by The Battalion show various members of the team, including Whisenant, his running mate Brock Barrington and several staffers, reaching out to students across campus with messages asking them to support his campaign. 

In separate statements, both Whisenant and Barrington said they were making the effort to reach as many students as possible. 

One conversation saw Whisenant text a student to advertise his plan to introduce digital IDs and increase Fish Camp funding. In another, Barrington sent a student a link to a voting website and told them to vote for him. 

“Our elections at Texas A&M have typically had a low voter turnout,” Whisenant said in a statement response to The Battalion’s inquiry. “Our team has been working tirelessly to individually contact as many students as possible. We hope to have a historic election turnout with the winner of that election truly being representative of the Texas A&M student body.” 

Whisenant’s campaign did not reveal how they acquired the list of names or phone numbers when asked by The Battalion. In a statement, Barrington said that the group’s “intention is simply to know every student by name and need.” 

“Due to the active nature of the campaign, we are opting not to share information regarding our team’s internal processes at this time,” Barrington said. 

The vice presidential candidate said they began the text campaign to better know and understand students on an individual basis. In one example, he recalled texting a student who responded with questions about the campaign’s policies. 

“They were genuinely curious about what we intend to do as Student Body President and Vice President, so I sent them a personal video message explaining some of our initiatives,” Barrington said. “I addressed the student by name, making it clear that the message was not some sort of generic response for our team to distribute.”

Whisenant’s campaign did not respond to a question asking how many phone numbers they acquired or how many students they had contacted so far. Most texts reviewed were sent yesterday, Feb. 23, and several were sent today. 

“We have heard from many students thanking us for letting them know about the election,” Whisenant said. “They have asked questions about our student government and about the election process. It is encouraging to see that those students now feel empowered and truly part of the Texas A&M student body.” 

Student government elections open Thursday, Feb. 27, at 9 a.m. and close Friday, Feb. 28, at noon.