INDIANAPOLIS — Caroline Desormiers, 13, sat next to her mother as she made phone calls on behalf of Evan Bayh and John Gregg at a Democratic Party phone bank Tuesday night.
This was her first time volunteering for a political campaign, and she was nervous, Caroline said.
“I was basically just scared that I wasn’t going to say something right or that someone would hang up on me,” Caroline said.
However, after a few calls, she said she caught the hang of it because she asks the same questions on every call — has the person voted yet and are they interested in early voting.
Caroline was at the event the Democratic Party of Marion County sponsored in coordination with the Bayh Fundraiser at the Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, appeared at both events in support of Bayh, spoke to volunteers and encouraged them to get out the vote.
“We tell the truth about our democracy by who we elect,” Booker said. “We have the better candidate. No question.”
Having Booker at the phone bank was a huge bonus said Linda Porter, a volunteer with the Marion County Democratic Party.
“It’s so nice to know Indiana matters,” Porter said.
David Ziemba, a volunteer with the Marion County Democratic Party, said because this year’s presidential election is so contentious and there are less than 30 days until Nov. 8, it is more important than ever the party has phone banks.
A lot of people procrastinate voting, Ziemba said. However, he said the Democratic Party wants everyone to know that early voting is open to all and is available seven days a week.
Saad Tawfeeq, a volunteer at the phone bank, is an Iraqi refugee who immigrated to the United States in 2009.
He has made 15,000 phone calls for the Democratic Party since he began volunteering in November 2015.
The campaign has given his life meaning, he said.
“The two most important things to me are my health and Hillary Clinton,” Tawfeeq said.
Tawfeeq said it was always his dream to come to America. Tawfeeq said he saw his friends and girlfriend killed in an explosion right in front of him in Baghdad, which led him and his family to flee the country in 2003.
The family moved to Jordan in 2004, then Egypt in 2005 before finally settling in the United States in 2009.
“It was like sugar in my mouth,” Tawfeeq said on receiving his visa after waiting seven years.
Tawfeeq said he loves the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton because he knows their stories. Clinton has served as a senator, secretary of state and first lady. She is the one the country needs in the White House, he said.
Donald Trump’s racist and sexist views do not represent the U.S. and he should not be president, Tawfeeq said.
“I am a Muslim-American, but I am a peaceful guy,” Tawfeeq said.
This election will have real outcomes for millions of Americans, Booker said. He said the country needs another Democratic senator in Indiana.
The U.S. is a nation about love and getting up and taking action when someone sees injustice, Booker said.
“It’s about telling yourself I may not be able to change the world, but I may be able to change someone’s world,” Booker said.
On Election Day, Porter said she expects the Democratic Party to exceed all expectations by winning the presidency and taking over the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“We’re reaching for the moon, but we’re all in this together,” Porter said.
