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Kicking off 2023 Canvassing in Senate Swing States because Deep Organizing Works for Democrats [1]
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Date: 2023-02-06
Consensus 2024 Senate Map
Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver. These are the very simple, personal messages volunteers from Hope Springs from Field PAC delivered at the door of Democratic and unaffiliated voters over the last two years in the 8 Senate Swing States for the last election cycle. And these messages persisted despite the national conversation, whatever it was, good or bad for Democratic hopes. Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver.
2022 was supposed to be a bad year for Democrats. We were supposed to lose seats in the Senate (“since 1994 the party holding the White House has lost at least one seat it holds that was carried by the president in the previous election”), we faced a “red wave” in the House (“A Democratic loss in the House of fewer than 12 seats would be very unexpected”). In a deeply polarized nation that had just undergone an insurrection, a Democratic president was mostly underwater and Republicans were highly energized. Yet we persisted. Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver.
The 2024 cycle presents new challenges, a new (Senate) map (one media outlet has said it Looks Very Dark for Senate Democrats) and even possible changes in Congressional District lines in some states. Yet the systemic approach we use, adapted from the personal voter contact techniques of Democratic machines for 140 years, maintaining contact with voters at their doors throughout the cycle works. Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver. Voters show up.
So it begins. Next month, volunteers mobilized by Hope Springs from Field will begin anew. We try not to schedule canvassing before the temperature is above 65 degrees and climate change is making this earlier and earlier, but March 4th is our kick-off date for Arizona and Florida, possibly other 2024 Senate Swings States as well. Because it is a presidential year, we are including Electoral College swing states in our canvassing schedule as well. So, for example, we will resume knocking on doors in Georgia even though there is no Senate election there this cycle. Voters need to be reminded. Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver.
I’ve contacted 184 volunteers who knocked on doors with Hope Springs since the Georgia runoff — granted, the overwhelming majority of whom in swing states this cycle as well — to get feedback on their impressions of this systemic approach. Mostly by phone, but some via text message exchanges. Whatever works best for them. I did this because I wanted to know their takeaways from our Early Organizing (after Labor Day 2022, volunteers were encouraged to work with their coordinated campaigns or candidate campaigns directly) and how they felt about that kind of voter contact.
A lot of our volunteers like that we emphasize voter registration right off the bat. One person told me that every time he saw something about voter suppression techniques he knew he was doing his part to prevent that by making sure voters were registered at their current address. Several people mentioned how they liked the fact that we paired voter registration of new voters with additional voter contact/GOTV efforts.
Other people talked about how easy it was to knock on doors with an Issues Questionnaire. “Almost no one couldn’t answer the first question (actually, the second) right off the bat! People know what is important to them, and it was eye-opening that their priorities didn’t always match mine,” one volunteer told me. “Talking to voters really takes your outside your bubble,” another said.
During the summer months, volunteers for Hope Springs from Field averaged 7,728 conversations with Democratic and unaffiliated voters who answered at least part of the questionnaire in those 8 Senate Swing States, more than almost every pollster had responses from during the time. While no one could argue that this feedback was balanced (let alone scientific), it did provide strong indications of where our base electorate was at. For example, we got our first indicator about the concern that voters (mostly unaffiliated at the time) had about John Fetterman’s health right after the Pennsylvania primary.
We also found the differentiation that voters, both male and female, were making about Reproductive Rights with regards to how they were going to vote in 2022. While the presence of Reproductive Freedom on our base question (most urgent issue facing us) was highly dependent upon news (the Alito leak, the Dobbs ruling), the 23-28 percent response about abortion driving their electoral decisions was fairly consistent, dependent more about the state than the news. Volunteers picked up on this as well, meaning that they could see the difference between the importance that people gave it in response to the polling question than the election question.
All the data we collect from the Issues Questionnaire is entered into VAN (the Democratic database) and made available to all Democrats who use VAN after the primaries.
Many of the volunteers I’ve talked to over the last 12 months also liked the focus on the election protection question (Do you have concerns about the upcoming election), especially in the context of the chance to collect voter intimidation reports at the door. One volunteer said that, “when I filled out my second Incident Report from a voter, I began to understand how important it was.” Another volunteer texted me after she was contacted by a local prosecutor, trying to get more information from her about the Incident Report she had filed. She said they had talked on the phone for about a half hour, that she had never felt “so important.”
But, to me, the key insight from this volunteer was her question, “Does this mean we missed this in 2020” (because we didn’t really knock on doors because of Covid concerns). Of course there is no way to know the answer to that question.
Hope Springs from Field PAC begins knocking on doors again next month in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are taking those efforts to the doors of Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fistfulofsteel
Hope Springs from Field PAC understands that repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors — and we didn’t register new voters (while Republicans dud). We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be (and can be) cured.
There is no other group that is targeting Senate Swing States and knocking on doors for the sole purpose of shaping the electorate for the presidential and senate electoral cycle. Although we do walk with lit (a key expense in this effort), volunteers with Hope Springs focus on listening to voters, collecting their responses and, when asked questions, writing them down to provide to Democratic office holders, candidates and their campaigns. It’s a remarkably passive approach, and takes some getting used to by many of those who have walked with us. “I knew the answer, I wanted to provide the answer, but I understand why getting an answer from the [Democratic] campaign would be more useful,” i was told. “On the other hand, I didn’t fret over the accuracy of my response, either.”
Volunteers with Hope Springs are sent out with Observation Forms and Q(uestion)-slips, the latter to write down voter questions that are provided to Democratic Senate campaigns for them to answer. They get it, and understand how important credit taking is for Democratic candidates, especially as many voters in swing states are over-exposed to Republican credit-taking and fear-mongering through Faux News.
Several volunteers i talked to over the past two months wanted to talk about how excited people would get when they came across people who credited them (their words) for a pot hole getting filled, or grass mowed (!, yes, voters actually asked for public rights-of-way to be mowed!) or getting a stop sign at a corner. “I didn’t understand why we walked with 3 CSRs, I thought it was too much too carry, but after voters filled them out and I saw their smiling faces, I thought we should have more!” another volunteer canvasser admitted. “I started to see the purpose.”
And they were right. It is a systemic approach that is completely data-driven, but in an utterly personal way. Democrats listen. Democrats care. Democrats deliver. Both volunteers and the voters they talk to get this. But this is exactly what we mean about preparing the electoral battleground. Hyper-local, but driven by the needs of Democrats to retain the Senate and the White House.
There are definitely new states that need attention this cycle. Montana. West Virginia. Michigan. Returning to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin. Montana and West Virginia may even demand a new approach, and both remind us that we do need to build a website for Hope Springs and probably a mechanism for digital outreach. There’s a lot of work to do and it’s just beginning.
Please join us in this effort to organize early and extend voter contact to an almost year-round degree. Our biggest expenses before getting started at paying for access to VAN and literature.
We can’t do this without help. Hope Springs from Field PAC is trying to reinstitute best field practices, such as canvassing with people who look like the voters we are talking to and targeting former voters thrown off the rolls. A lot of these got forgotten because of the Covid restrictions in the last cycle, and we have an entire cycle of campaign staffers who were trained without the benefit of actually getting to do field. That’s why it is so important to start knocking on doors now, and not wait until a month or so before the primaries. We have a lot of make-up work to do. Can you help?
If you are able to support our efforts to mobilize Democratic voters, especially in minority communities and swing districts, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fistfulofsteel
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!
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