Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made his second swing through Aiken on Monday, highlighting a message he believes "connects well" with social conservatives in the area.
Santorum spoke to the Aiken County Republican Club as part of his recent campaign stop, following a keynote address he delivered in April during the Aiken Republican Party's Convention.
"This area of the state is a strong, conservative area, and we believe we connect very well on a values level," Santorum said, adding his platform centers, in part, on a socially conservative message that seeks to reinforce the "nuclear family" and fight for religious freedom.
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania tried to separate himself from the 15 other candidates in the Republican field by saying, while they might have "a lot of good rhetoric," it doesn't necessarily come with "a lot of good policies to back it up."
Santorum particularly pointed to the issue of immigration, where he said other Republicans have "talked tough," but he feels he is the only candidate in the field that has a specific plan.
That plan, he said, includes addressing both legal and illegal immigration and allows only those who "are in jobs where the majority of the workers are not born in America" to gain a pathway toward guest worker status and stay in the United States.
"Everyone else needs to go home," Santorum said.
The issue of immigration has become more of a hot-button one as of late with the entry of businessman Donald Trump into the race and his controversial comments describing Mexicans who come to the United States illegally as "killers" and "rapists."
Over the past month, Trump has seen a huge spike in his polling average and leads virtually all Republicans with 15 months left until the November general election.
Santorum indicated that Trump, in particular, has capitalized on this idea of "speaking for the little guy," which has resonated with voters, but Trump's stances don't necessarily reflect the conservative policies and values the party needs in its nominee.
Santorum added that, in addition to immigration, he has heard often from voters in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina about jobs and the economy, the recently-negotiated nuclear deal with Iran and the need for religious liberty in the United States.
The 2016 race is Santorum's second run at the White House after he sought the presidency in 2012, when he finished behind only eventual-nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"This election is one that's more about issues and less about personalities, at least it was until recently," Santorum said. "Last time around, it was all about who was the better candidate to take on Mitt Romney."
The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, conducted July 16-19, has Santorum at about 2 percent support for the Republican nomination. He trails 11 other candidates, including front-runner Trump, who is polling at 24 percent.
Michael Ulmer is a North Augusta native and graduate of the University of South Carolina.