This past weekend, Hope Springs from Field PAC led canvassing in Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. It is the second weekend that we’ve had volunteers out in all the states we are involved with at the same time. Still eager to get to Arizona, but we need people who can lead canvassing there, first.
In Wisconsin, we are focusing on two areas: the suburban WOW counties around Milwaukee and the minority neighborhoods in that city. In the suburban areas, we are walking with the Issue Canvass, asking people what they think about the issues that will determine how they vote next year. We part of that questionnaire, we ask voters if there is a message they’d like to send to their member of Congress.
“Retire already, Senator. You’re embarrassing us!”
Well, that wasn’t directed at Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is a keep-her-head-down senator, focused on delivering for Wisconsin. But Wisconsin’s other senator is up for election next year, and the Tea Party turned Trump acolyte hasn’t exactly been keeping his voters happy. Johnson pledged to leave the senate after this term and says that keeping “his pledge to not seek a third term is ‘probably my preference now.’” After January 6th, the two largest newspapers in Wisconsin said Johnson should resign for "stoking an insurrection."
The editor of the conservative website Right Wisconsin published a scathing column hours before the riot, saying that Johnson was on a "reckless path" by questioning the integrity of the election and that he should retire and would lose if he ran again.
What seems new, though, is evidence that voters have grown tired of his runaround and are eager to move on next year. Not sure exactly where this impatience comes from, but among the Democrats and Independent voters we have been talking to, it is there. And it seems to come down to pride. “We want to be proud of our Senators,” one voter said. “He’s a mess,” another added.
We realize that southern Wisconsin is not exactly Johnson territory. But Republicans always want to depress voter enthusiasm in this area, and we don’t sense declining interest among Democrats in the 2022 election. And Johnson’s support for the insurrection isn’t a winning issue here. The results we have been getting from the Issues Canvass makes that clear. The reason why we like the Issues Canvass structure is because it is easy to get people to knock on doors with it, it allows us the opportunity to train canvassers in best practice, we believe in continual voter contact and we get information that we can use in future rounds. Not only the obvious questions, but it is also good to know how people self-identify politically, in their own terms.
Hope Springs from Field PAC is focused on the ground, face to face conversations that have proven effective in turning out voters year in and year out. By knocking on doors and delivering a hopeful, clear message, we want to remind voters of the differences between Democrats and Republicans, especially with their current fascination with keeping Trump happy.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopefield
Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate and our cause. Repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors. We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters).
Responses to the Issues Canvass are being added to VAN (the Democratic database) in an open-source manner, which should allow all Democratic candidates who use the database to access them. It’s an open-source database, some of it is less time-sensitive than other parts. The economy, and increasingly Covid, remains the top issues people are concerned about. And people are impatient about the economy getting back to normal, too. We have talked to a few autoworkers, who are following the availability to chips very closely. Although no one has told us their company has laid them off, at least one voter has told us they are cutting back on their expenses where they can in anticipation of that occurrence. “But not my cable.” (note: streaming is cheaper but...)
Our main expenses (right now) are typical canvassing materials (water, snacks, walk packets, lit and access to VAN) as well as the mobile printers we are purchasing to comply with the voter ID requirements in other states. At this time, all the money we raise is devoted to this. But we are currently relying upon the Obama alumni network for organizers and cutting turf. We want to bring in other field organizers as we are able, especially since many of the people who are cutting turf now will want to devote more of their volunteer time to the candidates and causes they support.
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please do:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopefield
Thank you for your support.