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Elon Musk is Dangerous! We have to take away his power... [1]
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Date: 2025-02-21
Got this text a couple of days ago: “Have you gone radio silent? I haven’t seen word that HSFF would canvass this year.” Which is perplexing (to me), having recently posted “we need to adjust our “business” (or volunteer) model going forward.” I had already planned to start posting again next week because our first planned canvasses start next Saturday (weather permitting, which we are all keeping an eye on).
But that isn’t really what this diary is about. Several other professional “field” people have been trying to convince me that the Hope Springs from Field PAC [dated website] model is our (Democrats/progressives, dependent on the argument) best hope for “undermining Elon Musk’s powerbase” or “make him politically irrelevant.”
I am a naturally skeptic. Trained as a scientist, i find a lot of political arguments lack evidence as their basis. But the argument here is that Elon Musk’s influence in this administration was his deployment of field staff (canvassers) throughout the Swing States and his contention that they were decisive in the election is how Musk obtained the power he wields under president felon. Again, skeptical me questions that, since the Traitor has long desired approval and acceptance from the Super Rich, and this is well documented.
Regardless, there are Democrats thinking about how to denude Musk’s power. And i get it. Hope Springs has been kinda working in the same areas as Musk’s canvassing outfits. Not exactly, though, and there is a lot of thought being put into how we need to expand this Spring and Summer when we are knocking on doors in Swing States and Districts.
Yes, i said (Congressional) Districts. Hope Springs has focused on Senate Swing States in the past because we emerged out of the Georgia Senate runoffs and it was an easy transition. House and Senate races are different, and we have to learn how to operate successfully in the House races.
Fortunately, we have experience in winning House special elections (still not the same thing, though) to grow off of. But the key here is that Democrats have a better chance of taking back the House (which we would have won had North Carolina not gerrymandered their House districts in 2024) than the Senate in 2026. And we deem winning back at least one of these legislative bodies critical for 2026.
Having said that, we need to incorporate the lessons we learned in 2024 moving forward. Democrats have run a battleground strategy for 20 years. It’s not working. We can’t micro-target our way to success anymore.
Still, there has a simple rule of campaigns since 1960. When Democrats expand the electorate, we win. When we fail to do so, we lose. (Again, having said that, in four swing states, Harris won more raw votes than Joe Biden did four years ago: Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — and we lost there.)
We have to do better.
Hope Springs from Field PAC begins knocking on doors again on March 1st. We target 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. The voters we talk to continue to tell us they come away more invested in governance and feel more favorably towards Democrats in general because of our approach.
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/hopemobilization Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do. Susie Wiles claimed at the Boston conference that the highest number of contacts that Elon Musk’s canvassers got in a day was 47. She further claimed that they averaged in the high 30s. Remember, these were paid canvassers who worked “Musk hours” (whatever that means). Hope Springs’ volunteers didn’t work “Musk hours,” but the feedback we’ve received suggests our voter contacts were meaningful. And our volunteers are ready to go. One text i received from a volunteer in Arizona read, “Excited: there’s nothing more patriotic in America than fighting against tyranny.” The 2025 version of Fired Up, Ready to Go.
As indicated in previous diaries, Hope Springs’ strategy aims to restore confidence in various public institutions and public officials. Key to the Musk strategy is to tear down public confidence in this regard; our volunteers endeavor to build it back up. Key to this is our use/offering of Constituent Service Request forms. Our research shows that we need to try harder to follow up on these, given the impact on voting. One of the many improvements we are planning for 2025.
Obviously, the map has changed, even without Early Organizing in key or Swing Congressional Districts this year. Maine joins our list of Swing States this year, especially in ME-02. Michigan’s senate seat is open this year. While i personally have supported Gary Peters in the past, Hope Springs volunteers have found that Peters did not break through among voters in the areas we have canvassed. Hopefully, the Democratic nominee will do better there. MI-07 will be a specific priority.
“Minnesota and New Hampshire are mildly blue states where Harris’s single-digit margins last year were worse than Biden’s from 2020 but better than those that Hillary Clinton got in 2016.” Hope Springs will expand on the late addition of MN-02 to our canvassing, make sure we retain that seat (the incumbent is likely to run for the open senate seat) and add New Hampshire to the list.
We will continue to canvass in Pennsylvania (PA-07, PA-08 & PA-10, where Democrats were a mere percentage point behind GOP candidates) and Arizona (AZ-01, AZ-02 & AZ-06) which have no senate races this cycle. Georgia, where Jon Ossoff will have a tough re-election, should see canvasses start soon (again, weather permitting).
We return to North Carolina, where Thom Tillis could face a tough fight from the right, possibly opening up space for Democrats next year. North Carolina volunteers are intent on expanding the map within their state for their own reasons.
That’s not all, but i sense that people stop reading after awhile. But the key fact here is that we begin next weekend, volunteers are “excited” (a better word might be pissed) and we have extra motivation this time around (knocking Elon Musk off his pretend throne).
Hope Springs from Field is primarily focused on listening to voters in the effort to bring them (back?) into the fold. One of the biggest things we learned this last year was how important our auxiliary effort by walking with Constituent Service Request forms was to the voters who chose to fill them out was. That’s tomorrow’s topic.
Printing the literature we leave at voter’s doors (or hands) was our biggest expense last year. We still have printing bills of $53,374 left from last year. Our second biggest expense is the Voter File and that’s something we have to pay for up front before we start again this year.
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the ActBlue page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!
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[1] Url:
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