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Just the Stats, Ma'am: Weekly Canvass Wrap up from AZ, FL, GA, ME, MN, NV, NH, NC, PA, TX & VA [1]

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Date: 2025-05-10

In Florida, Hope Springs from Field PAC [dated website] volunteers have been canvassing since February 8th (due to the special election in FL-6), but most of us have been knocking on doors this year since March 1st. That’s 10 weeks (14 in Florida). We have a pattern in list building. For the first month, we distribute turf of approximately 65 houses — although more experienced volunteers will ask for a “full packet” from the start. In the second month, we add another 10 houses to most packets. But we are now 10 weeks in, and walk lists have now expanded to 85 houses. That’s about double what most campaigns give out, which is why you have volunteers asking for 2 packets to take out.

85 houses might seem a lot (really depends on how close they are together — and, remember, we aren’t knocking on the doors of Republican households). Very few volunteers complete a whole packet. In the Summer, we’ll have many volunteers average about 82 houses when they go out. But then there are the volunteers who might only knock on 40 doors. We have a volunteer who consistently knocks on the low end of the scale, but always spends the 3 hours devoted to the task. And she consistently talks to 8 to 10 voters. I know this because i’ve called voters who she had spoken with because she isn’t the normal volunteer in this way.

Every volunteer is different. In every state, we have volunteers who aspire to knock on as many doors as possible in the time they devote to it. It’s a friendly, but mostly private, little competition. And we have volunteers like Kate, mentioned above, who prioritizes how many voters she has talked to. I’d say that is competitive to, but i bet she’d disagree. I’m sure she’ll let me know.

But it’s teamwork. It’s actually shocking to me (perhaps not to other organizers) that the average numbers don’t really change much week to week, regardless of how many doors get assigned. Now you might think, why 85 if 82 is the upper limit? But it’s not the upper limit. It’s an aspirational number. It’s also why we insist that turf cutters have experience in walking the turf they have cut to train their own eyeballs. But that number stems from experience, having worked with plenty of volunteers who have driven a significant distance (line in FL-06) before they canvass. They don’t want to stop after 45 houses — and they don’t want to take out two packets that aren’t right next to each other.

One thing i hear almost every week is how appreciative volunteers are that we stay on top of their participation. One volunteer told me Saturday how he took “several weeks” (actually 5) to complete our Volunteer Survey. “Hope you saw it,” he seemed eager to know. It’s not a time sensitive thing, i told him. All input is welcome (volunteer, donor, reader — organizer). It makes us better.

But, apparently, that’s not normal. People don’t really understand the significance of the fact that Hope Springs from Field was designed as a “pop-up” PAC, a one-off. Nobody envisioned that this need to bring in organizers from states around Georgia for the special election would evolve into something else.

And that’s due to the volunteers, mostly from HBCUs, who were intent on RE-ELECTING Rev. Warnock in the less than two years he was given after that special election. They didn’t want their work “to be wasted.”

I mentioned previously we are sending out 37,415 emails each week to mobilize volunteers. As we’ve expanding into new states, that has risen to 42,188 emails a week. I mention that since that fact became known to me.

Last Saturday, we had 3,300 volunteers come out to canvass. We knocked on 239,434 doors in eleven states last Saturday. At every door, we left a piece of literature promoting Democrats, which remains our biggest expense (by far) — and why we continue to plea for financial support.

Volunteers talked to 19,486 voters last Saturday. Of those, 12,405 voters answered questions on our Issues Survey, at least in part.

We have targeted 14 Swing States to knock on doors and will have volunteers canvassing in all of them this month. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Here’s the thing. We aren’t knocking in urban areas, for the most part (where state and local Democratic party orgs are stronger), but the swingy areas that tend to be suburban (or even ex-urban) — and where weather is more of a factor. But these are the areas that are deciding elections in the 21st century. And, in addition to our Issues Survey, through our Constituent Service Request forms and Incident Reports, we are directly connecting them with their state and local government. Not through our volunteers, but through their own words and actions.

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