I don’t know about you, but i get a ton of fund-raising emails. But i got one from Cory Booker, where the subject line read: I don’t want to think about another Trump presidency. That makes two of us, probably more. Which is the reason why i spent last week on the road (and/or plane), visiting Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Talking to organizers and super volunteers, asking and answering questions, talking about Hope Springs from Field PAC’s accomplishments this year and the expectations we have for 2024.
Yes, yes we can!
And there’s a good reason why. The things that are effecting Biden’s poll numbers aren’t in the area where this election will be determined. Like 2020, Joe Biden isn’t going to carry (m)any Democratic candidates to victory, but there is a dominant factor that will. You read the title of this diary, you know where i’m going with this.
I’m not ready to call 2024 the Abortion Election, but i do think we can conclude that it will be the Freedom Election — Reproductive Healthcare being perhaps the most prominent election of our fight for individual freedoms in 2024. For some people, it will also be the Election about our Democracy, whether we still want to be a Democracy or, as Republicans call America, a Republic. Yeah, yeah, i don’t see the difference for our country either, but Republicans and conservatives are very eager to take our freedoms away even as they pretend they will protect them.
I wasn’t even in Ohio and people were asking about Republican attempts to turn back the results of a people’s referendum. “Can’t they just accept the results of the election?” I can’t exactly speak for Republicans, let alone MAGA supporters, but i think we all know the answer to that.
Let’s face it, Trump and his cult think we will get tired, abandon our principles — surrender. That’s what they are counting on. Democrats and progressives giving up. Soon.
I know i’m not ready to give up. I doubt i will ever be. But i’ve lived long enough to know that Republicans aren’t imagining Democrats doing so. They’ve seen it before, in both the 1980s and post 9/11. So we can’t be too shocked that they believe it is our pattern.
It is up to us to disabuse them of that belief.
But i don’t believe 2024 is going to be about Joe Biden. I find it hard to conceive that Trump would ever allow it to be about anything but him. Extreme narcissist, you know. And there will be voters in 2024 who will cast their vote for or against Donald Trump, just as there will be voters who will cast their vote FOR Joe Biden. But these aren’t the swing voters, in the swing states, that are going to determine who wins in 2024.
And these are the voters, these are the locations, that Hope Springs from Field targets in our efforts to knock on doors, to personalize voter contact and make it all about the voter. Because we believe first impressions matter, and we want these voter’s first impressions of 2024 to be that they matter to Democrats and that Democrats Deliver!
Republicans have at least six different groups (eg, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, Libre Initiative, Concerned Women for America and Citizens United, as well as Club for Growth and MAGA Turning Point Action) doing field and voter contact in swing states while Democratic efforts are more diffuse and state-based (meaning, they tend to focus on a single state). Hope Springs is focused on Swing States, swing states in the Electoral College and in Senate elections. Because our primary form of voter contact is knocking on doors with an Issues Survey, engaging voters early through a voter-led conversation and getting their responses entered into the database of the Democratic-based VAN in the swingy suburbs of these super-competitive states. We seem to be alone in taking this national approach and allowing the data to be used by all Democrats who use VAN in these areas.
I will be talking more specifically about what i learned last week in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Montana and Wisconsin through the rest of this week.
Like everyone else, we are asking for your financial support for these vital efforts. If you are like me, you are inundated with requests. We don’t have any cute pets, or special treats, to offer up to encourage your support. Nor will we try to guilt you by telling you the threat is real, ongoing and getting more sophisticated. We are all getting tired of it.
But if you are able to contribute to 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. We need your help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fistfulofsteel
You can follow that link for our mailing address, as well (for those who would rather send us a check). Thank you for your support! This work depends on you!