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Canvassing Virginia: Elections in 2025 and House Targets for 2026 [1]
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Date: 2025-05-06
We are now canvassing (or have canvassed) in 12 of the 14 target states for Hope Springs from Field PAC’s [dated website]: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas & Virginia. Only Michigan and Wisconsin remain for Kick-off canvasses due to our weather restrictions. And i know i need to write about those states i had yet to diary so i want to start off with Virginia because it has an important election this year.
In Virginia, we are focusing on the Congressional Districts VA-01 and VA-02. Both are held by Republicans and both are on the House Democrats target list. Early organizing here will help in this regard, although what we’ve been finding so far is that president felon’s announcements are our best weapon in changing people’s minds. In these red districts, we’ll take all the help we can get! VA-01 and VA-02 are the two pink districts in the eastern part of the state.
We were in VA-02 in the last cycle (and, actually, parts of VA-01 as well), so we have an existing volunteer base there. We are building out our base in VA-01 now.
But the reason why we wanted to get started as early as possible in Virginia is because of the statewide elections this year, including Governor, Lt. Governor and state Attorney General. Because Virginia is more of a swing state than New Jersey, it is considered more of a barometer for the 2026 elections. That wasn’t always true, New Jersey was considered more competitive than Virginia back in the 80s. A reminder that the map can change.
233 Hope Springs volunteers came out on Saturday in Virginia on Saturday to knock on 16,612 doors. We talked to 1,312 voters and had in-depth conversations with 826 of them, guided by our Issues Questionnaire. We’ve added one thing to our questionnaire: we are asking voters whether they approve of the administration’s cuts to federal programs and agencies. Given that we are talking to more unaffiliated voters this year, we are offering that as a way to screen MAGA-leaning voters that we talk to. Virginia, even in these red districts, is the state on our target list that has reacted the most harshly to these cuts, especially in the Norfolk area. But there are voters in both districts that are directly affected by DOGE, and when we find one, voters let us know about it! It’s heartbreaking when you talk to a voter who fears they might lose their job. And they aren’t always federal workers, we’ve talked to contractors who share their fear. Legitimately, DOGE seems to have been harsher on contractors than federal employees — kinda hard to believe. One lady told a volunteer that she had to be at her desk on March 12 to find out if she was going to lose her job. “If I’m not there at 8:30, I might not be able to retrieve my personal things at work. And I have to think about that for two weeks.” Sounds cruel to me. I looked it up, she was in VA-01. Sad to say, there are electoral opportunities here.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/6/2320814/-Canvassing-Virginia-Elections-in-2025-and-House-Targets-for-2026?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
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