This weekend, volunteers working with Hope Springs from Field PAC placed small American flags at the homes of 8,258 voters who have yet to vote in the New Mexico special election (NM-01) and who have pledged to vote for Democrat Melanie Stansbury on Tuesday.
This was not an act of kindness. Well, it was, in a sense. The purpose of these flags is to act as markers for drivers who will be out reminding these voters to GO VOTE in this special Congressional election. Not every house is numbered, not every number is visible. But placing flags by a mailbox or driveway helps runners find the homes on their list quickly, especially during their first round or pass.
It's not just because it is Memorial Day, either. Republicans have long sought to take the flag away from Democrats, to claim patriotism as their own. The Republican in this race claims to stand tall for law enforcement -- while he seeks to join the party in Congress that won't stand up for the police men and women who risked their lives when the Trump-incited insurrectionists attacked the Constitution and Congress.
Anyone who has ever chased votes on an Election Day, especially outside of urban areas, knows the difficulty in finding the right house on your list. We used flags on the last weekend before the Iowa caucus in Lee county at the suggestion of one of the local volunteers in Barack Obama's campaign in 2008. It wouldn't work everywhere, but it would work here.
This is a Congressional special election that shouldn't have been a cause of concern. But after the shutout in Texas and the endless carping on socialism and Defund the Police, there were Democrats would started to worry about who would win this election to replace Secretary Deb Haaland. More to the point, people are starting to worry that, for many Democrats, electing Joe Biden was enough. That all the energy has slipped over to the Republican side.
There was definitely some of this in Texas. But Texas was different. Not just because the Texas special election was what is called a jungle primary where all the candidates run on a single ballot and the top two vote-getters move on (if not one wins a majority of the vote).
The Texas special was simultaneous with a variety of local elections and those mayoral, city council and school board elections dominated the local press. The congressional election was barely an afterthought. And not every potential voter in the congressional special could vote at the same place as they did for their local offices. It was messed up. You know, Texas messed-up.
Finally, the Texas special featured not only the widow of a Republican incumbent, but also a candidate who had run against the incumbent in the 2018 GOP primary. That candidate came from Ellis County, a more rural county that virtually every other candidate ignored. In a risky, but ultimately brilliant, strategy, state rep. Jake Ellzey ran up the score in his home area while everyone else focused on Tarrant County. It got him into the run-off (but seems like a poor strategy in the special runoff).
But being locked out of the special runoff hurt. And it boosted confidence by Republicans that they could actually make a race -- even win -- the New Mexico CD-1 special. And no one wanted to see that occur.
When it became apparent that some of the GOP and conservative field organizers we saw in Georgia started to turn up in Albuquerque, alarm bells went off. Democrats and progressive groups don't have the kind of rapid response force for special elections that Republicans and conservatives do. But Hope Springs from Field PAC has made this a mission, to augment on-the-ground field organizing that has proven so successful in turning out voters in the past.
Obviously, we need your help. 10,000 flags and printing costs $18,950.48. Can you help defray these costs? If you are inclined, please help out here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopefield
This is a pop-up response to what was originally envisioned to be a pop-up PAC. Georgia, one and done. But especially in our work in the southwest of Georgia and the lower part of Fulton County, we were encouraged to continue with our field efforts in these kinds of circumstances. Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Alums because field organizing was the cornerstone of our success. Face to face interactions are critical. Combining deep organizing with data and digital are simply elements we cannot short (as we did in the Covid 2020 election). They are so critical that Republicans have continued to send in outside organizers to Albuquerque even when indicators are that they can't win this seat. Hope Springs from Field PAC is working to fill the voids on our side.
There is a lot of confidence that Stansbury will win tomorrow. I don't doubt that, once again, I will fly out of here with a plane full of Republican organizers who give me dirty looks because of my “Vote“ mask. But this is work that needs to be done, and one of the most important aspects to this experience has been a gratefulness that national entities are supporting Democrats in this special election.
We have a busy next 27 hours, and like I said, things are looking good. But if you support this kind of face-to-face, persuasion and mobilization field organizing, please support our efforts in this New Mexico special Congressional election.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopefield