Larry Hogan Campaign Internship

Cristina de Araujo

Larry Hogan Campaign Internship

The skills in public history that helped me succeed working for Governor Hogan was mainly conducting research and analyzing data. As I explain below, I researched each county in Maryland in order to learn their voter history. Public historians also have the skill of interpreting different pieces of history to the public they are targeting. We shared certain information and data points to different parts of the county depending on the percentage of Republican voters. Also, while working at my political internship, I analyzed data and calculated percentages for how many people voted for the Democratic or Republican candidate in the election of 2016.

I interned for the Hogan Campaign in order to become more politically active.  The main goals we had to achieve were to get around 300 people registered to vote, persuade people to vote, and calculate the overall turnout to prepare for the upcoming election. We also canvassed using an app called Advantage. I canvassed around the Bethesda/ Kensington area. With this app, we were able to download walk books and research the overall political party affiliations in each household. When canvassing, we would select the voter response. If there were no answer, an observation survey would be done, judging by their party affiliation.  The observation survey was intended to record observations about the home, for example, flying the American Flag, displayed a yard sign or bumper sticker etc. If a voter did want to do our 5-second survey, then we would save it and send it to the database. We canvass using the advantage app because people are significantly more likely to answer honestly, and we can guarantee that we are talking to the correct person. We would also cut through the small talk of politics in order to take information directly to our target voter.

Collecting data was an essential part of the internship. As said above, we spoke to people face-to-face. Every survey response and observation is a data point that tells us something about the person we are talking to and how they will vote on Election Day. We also had data buckets, which is information we collect from our conversations with voters via the phone, determines how we approach communities through television, ads, direct mail, and earned media. We would also attend Hogan fundraisers and his weekly press conferences in Annapolis. Below is a photograph I took of Governor Hogan and his wife at an event.