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Sharing Hope from the Field: Florida Volunteers Step Up! [1]
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Date: 2025-05-23
In Florida, 622 Hope Springs volunteers came out to knock on doors in 6 Florida counties on Saturday. They knocked on 45,841 doors and talked to 3,759 voters . 2,368 of those voters answered questions on at least part of the Issues Survey at their doors.
But there are people who wonder why we are in Florida (still). Especially since the state has gotten redder in the last decade or so. Like Texas, there are reasons for that, reasons that can be reversed. Again, Florida and Texas are both projected to gain another 4 seats in Congress while California will lose 4 seats. The implications for the Electoral College and Congress are obvious unless we do something now.
I always think i should write more about this, but there’s so much that Hope Springs from Field volunteers are doing that isn’t being done by other progressive groups or Democrats, and there’s only so much time since we have weekly reports on their canvassing.
We recruit Divine Nine chapters to do this incredible work in Alachua, Columbia, Madison, Marion, and Polk counties (the redder counties on the map to the left (or above)). This year, we are seeing some returning D9 chapters from last year. They’ve done incredible work and their stories are heart-warming, and the sight of these men and women — many from HBCUs — dressed in their Sunday best in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country stand as a testimony to the legacy of the Civil Rights movement.
Two potential Democratic candidates walked with us on Saturday. Sometimes people (including elected Democrats) join us to understand what we are doing (mainly because of the Constituent Service Request forms) but they came out to “get practice in canvassing” and “get an idea about what voters are talking about.” They were the 100th and 101st (potential) candidates to join us in this work. (Sometimes — not in their case — we will be asked to advertise their participation. We don’t do that (plenty of progressive groups do that for them), mainly because we believe all volunteers are equal and each one has their own reason for canvassing.)
Hope Springs from Field PAC began 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. We are still asking voters whether they approve of the administration’s cuts to federal programs and agencies. But soon after this budget is signed into law, we will probably stop. Voter interest or knowledge of DOGE is declining and we see that in voter responses to this question. Other than that, the Issues Survey hasn’t really changed. Like i said, we will probably modify it again. Voters like to tell us what is important to them!
Jobs (and specifically the prospect of Summer Jobs for students) was the Top Issue in Florida on Saturday. Tariffs was second and Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was third. Especially insurance costs.
As i mentioned above, we are asking voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and agencies. On Saturday, 3% of the voters we talked to said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light. 37% disapproved. 13% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing, while 42% disapproved.
Florida has a new, appointed Senator due to the elevation of Mario Rubio to the White House. Ashley Moody, the new Senator, isn’t well known to the voters we’ve talked to these last two months. On Saturday, 4% of the voters who responded approved of the job Sen. Moody was doing while a mere 12% expressed Disapproval. In other words, only 16% of the voters we talked to said they knew who she was. 9% approved of what Gov. DeSantis was doing and 37% disapproved. You might notice that DeSantis has taken a real beating since we are out of FL-06 (a congressional district in which he served before becoming governor).
Hope Springs volunteers registered 31 new voters on Saturday (primarily African-America). We re-registered 17 voters, who mainly updated their addresses, all using the Florida Sec. of State website to conform to Florida’s onerous voter registration laws for volunteers.
288 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms on Saturday. We send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
5 voters filled out Incident Reports. Incident Reports are used to plan Election Protection activities, and will be combined with other, historical incidents and handed over to District and State Attorneys, Attorney Generals and the DoJ Civil Rights Division right before Election Day as a precaution against Election Day Incidents in November. Past polling place activity is a predictor of future voter intimidation or suppression activity.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey, the CSR and Incident Report. We record questions voters raise with a Q(uestion)-slip and record other relevant observations on an Observations form. Q-slips are sent to the relevant Democrat to respond to and Observations are entered into VAN. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or Congressional Races in 2026. There is a lot of work to be done! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year. By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with some really, really onerous new voter regulations, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them and helping them to check their current voter registration status, if they cannot access it online themselves.
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