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There's Something about Iowa that continues to draw us here [1]
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Date: 2025-06-19
A month ago, we got a similar request from House Democrats. The DCCC has targeted 3 seats in Iowa and, since "these guys will do anything" (not really sure how to take that), can we organize volunteers and canvass there. Last Saturday was our third Saturday knocking on doors in the state.
We are now canvassing in the 17 Hope Springs from Field PAC [dated website , to be updated in the Fall] target states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky (KY-6), Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia & Wisconsin.
Most of our work has been in IA-01, from South of Des Moines to Keokuk to south of Dubuque. Iowa City is probably the geographical center of the district. The incumbent, GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks first won in 2020, but Democrats came within 800 votes to defeat her in a year that Trump did very well in Iowa. Even though the Cook PVI rating is R+4, that close win in the reason why Democrats have her in our sites.
As you can see from the 2022 redistricted map, the consensus is that IA-01 is now a toss-up district, while IA-03 is a lean Republican and IA-02 is considered a likely Republican seat (IA-04 is a solid GOP district). Although we plan to include IA-02 this Summer, Saturday we were only able to canvass in IA-01 and parts of IA-03 so far. We only had 3 canvass areas in IA-03 on Saturday; the overwhelming number of volunteers live in (and canvassed) IA-01. The hope is that Early Organizing and building a better database of the electorate (or the non-Republican parts of it) gives us those 800 votes or more.
Joni Ernst hasn’t done herself any favors, either. Ernst was the senator who told her voters, “Well, we all are going to die,” in response to concerns that Medicaid cuts would lead to more deaths. Suddenly — and this was the feeling among many of the volunteers who turned out in Iowa — the 2026 Senate seat could be in play. Iowa voters reacted accordingly. We found this to be true at their doors on Saturday.
The incident has shone a fresh spotlight on the Republican Party’s political vulnerabilities as well as Ernst’s uncertain political future, with some Iowa watchers wondering whether she will stand for re-election. She angered Trump’s MAGA allies last year, delayed her trademark summer motorcycle ride until the fall, and now has become the face of what Democrats paint as Republican cruelty toward poor people.
And many of the people we talked to in the last three weeks are familiar with Ernst’s take on their survival. “We got bigger problems here than Ernst, and her snide attitude makes you wonder if she’s fighting FOR US in Washington,” one voter told a volunteer.
The opportunity in Iowa for Democrats is the best in a decade. The Crystal Ball notes, “we’re moving Iowa’s Senate race from Safe Republican to Likely Republican. This puts the Senate race in the same category as the state’s open-seat gubernatorial race, where Democrats recently got their strongest possible recruit, state Auditor Rob Sand.”
But that isn’t the only thing weighing on Iowans. In a somewhat related note — the reason Ernst stepped in it, really — was the Issue of Medicare and Medicaid in the Budget/Reconciliation Bill currently before the Senate. And we see now that the Senate Finance Committee advanced more severe cuts in Medicaid that even the House could vote for.
Last Saturday, 379 volunteers knocked on 26,416 doors. They talked to 2,113 voters and had in-depth conversations with 1,331 of them, respectively, guided by our Issues Questionnaire.
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.
(Continuation of High) Prices was the Top Issue for Iowans on Saturday. Concerns over Tariffs, especially in how it could affect Agricultural Exports was the #2 Issue, and Jobs was the Third most frequently Issue cited by voters there.
We’ve been asking voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and agencies that Elon Musk’s DOGE and the House Reconciliation Bill have made. 2% of the voters we talked to said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light on Saturday. 21% thought just the opposite. Only 8% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing (49% disapproved). One voter asked “if anyone knew what Trump was doing.” Of course, today he admits “nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
1% of the voters we talked to said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light on Saturday. 24% thought just the opposite. 11% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing (44% disapproved). 37% of the voters we talked to had a favorable opinion of Joni Ernst. 38% disapproved. We are also asking how voters view their Incumbent (GOP) Members of Congress. 7% approved and 42% disapproved. 11% approved of what Gov. Reynolds was doing while 38% disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 5 new voters on Saturday. We re-registered 12 voters, who mainly updated their addresses. We differentiate between the new voters and re-registering voters because brand new voters are often ignored by campaigns and we hope to compensate for that somewhat by having volunteers send them post cards before the election and they will also receive robocalls thanking them for registering.
In Iowa, 98 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms on Saturday. We send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials (if possible) responsible for the requested functions, but if there are no Democrats who can further the request, and 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. We increasingly have local Democratic elected officials and prospective candidates join our Saturday canvasses just because they hear about these CSRs.
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.
Our biggest expense is Printing the Walk Lit that we leave at every door. Access to the Voter File is our second largest cost. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees but we realize that to formalize and professionalize this effort that will have to change eventually.
Hope Springs has been called “the most comprehensive, organized grassroots voter contact project out there right now. It is truly astonishing that it is grassroots-based!” Not sure why it is “astonishing,” but i probably have more faith in grassroots or self-organized efforts because of my experience with Barack Obama’s early days in 2007.
If you are able to support Hope Springs from Field’s efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, we would appreciate your support:
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 page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!
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