Last weekend I was canvassing for Josh Welle, Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s Fourth District, running against long-term incumbent Chris Smith. Smith isn’t known much outside the District, though he has achieved some national prominence in recent weeks, even being lampooned by Colbert, for his homophobic views. (Smith is on record as saying that he does not believe gay rights are human rights.) I have written in more detail on Smith and his agenda previously in this forum.
I had canvassed before back in July on a brutally hot Saturday afternoon, and found that most people were either not home or at least were not answering their doors, but this time it was a Sunday and more people were around.
New Jersey’s Fourth is heavily gerrymandered, which is why Smith has had a more or less guaranteed seat for 38 years, but our particular part is actually Democratic-leaning, and both of our State Assemblymen and our State Senator are all Democrats. Nonetheless there were a range of responses. Some people told me they would definitely be voting for Welle. One lady said that she might have supported Smith but that she did not think he was doing anything for us anymore and would be voting for Welle.
On the other hand, one guy who said he was a Vietnam vet, said he was absolutely going to be voting for Smith, who he evidently felt had given him a lot of support as a vet over the years: Smith has, indeed, been popular with veterans’ groups. I pointed out that Josh Welle is also a veteran, but he was not to be swayed. He politely told me that nothing would make him change his mind.
One lady answered the door and upon hearing my introductory sales pitch, asked if Welle was a Democrat. I confirmed that he was, and she said, “I’m not voting for a Democrat”, and closed the door.
But quite a few people seemed to be simply unaware of what was going on in the election. NJ04 has been solidly Red for decades, but Welle’s energetic campaign, along with Smith’s recent own goals are making people start to ask if Smith’s seat is “safe”, a question that would have been unthinkable before. There has also been a lot of public pressure on Smith to agree to a debate with Welle, something he has thus far been ignoring. But some of the people I spoke with seemed simply unaware that there was anything interesting going on.
Then there’s a neighbor of mine, a much older guy whose health has unfortunately not been very good, who I spent some time talking to after I got back from my canvassing activity. He has disavowed politics since the 1960’s when his career was negatively impacted by what he felt were politically motivated decisions. Evidently he hasn’t voted since then. But on a previous occasion he had told me that one of his wishes is that he can live long enough to see Trump in jail. This guy is not particularly liberal: he even had good things to say about Smith. But he can clearly see what is going on and where Trump is trying to take America. Still, he doesn’t want to vote. I told him that his best opportunity to see his wish fulfilled is to vote for Josh Welle, who fully supports the Mueller investigation, and if the facts warrant it would support impeachment. I could not convince him.
One cannot really argue with the motivation of someone like the Vietnam vet I spoke to who supports Smith out of a sense of loyalty, so it is not voters like him who I worry about (though of course it would be good if they could be convinced to change their minds). What worries me is people like the lady who won’t vote for any Democrat, I suppose (though she did not say) because they are immoral in her view. And what worries me more is people who are simply indifferent to what is going on or, as in the case of my neighbor, can see clearly what is going on but cannot summon the effort to try to do something about it.
Welle has been crisscrossing the District for the past several months, starting with a 24-hour listening tour soon after the June primary, and including meet-and-greets, town halls, and other public forums where he has been carefully listening to voters’ concerns. Smith has refused a debate thus far and, as is well-known, has not held a town hall for decades.
This really comes down to respect: Smith evidently is so confident that voters will simply reelect him that he does not feel the need to respect them enough to face them for frank discussions of issues. Of course I hope that this time around will be different, and that Smith will be ousted. If that does not happen, it will not be because Smith has earned his reelection: it will be because a large number of people are simply disconnected from the political process.