Today, I packed up the car with my 4 boys, wife, and headed to Bucks County to canvass. My wife and I had done this twice previously, once in 2004 for Kerry, once in 2016 for Hillary, and today. The differences were stark, and telling.
In 2004, we were going door to door during the Eagles game (no kids at point, and a fiancee, not a spouse). Why send canvassers during an Eagles game in Bucks county?! I think we might have lost more votes than we gained, and were greeted less then kindly on numerous occasions. But we had a pretty big crowd at the office prior to setting out, and there was a good energy. Kerry carried Pennsylvania but lost the election.
In 2016, like most people, I had every confidence that Hillary would win, but we still thought it would a fun outing for our kids, who were all pretty young at the time, and also saw the stakes as very high so worth the effort. When we arrived at the Clinton HQ in the area, it was empty except for one staffer surfing his phone. This was two weekends before the election. Nobody there. They had yard signs and literature, but no people. We explained we (5 of us, plus our good friends who moved to Philly from Brooklyn) wanted to canvas, and the one staffer took a few minutes to print out a walking map and a script for us. We knocked on doors, had some good interactions, did not see many yard signs for either candidate and went home. I remember thinking that for two weeks before the election, there sure was a lack of interest and activity. But honestly, I still thought we were fine. We weren’t.
So today. Canvassing again during the Eagles game!!! Ugh. We rushed to get door knocking so we could get to as many people as possible prior to kickoff at 1pm. We had 49 doors to knock on, and hit them all. More than half the people were home, and every person (except 1) was enthusiastic for us being there. The development we were in had a few more Trump signs than Harris signs, but what struck me was how in your face the Trump signage was. Right down by the road, multiple signs, aggressive. Those with Harris signs were up next to the doors, set back. In chatting with voters, it was clear that the Harris voters were literally scared of some of their neighbors. Those who put up the Harris signs were brave, and one person who didn’t have a sign literally said she was scared to put one up. That, in and of itself, is more than enough reason to go the extra mile to elect Harris. If neighbor fears neighbor, we have a problem. But what made me optimistic is that many of these Harris voters said lots of their neighbors were shy Harris voters. The aggressive posture of Trump fans, at least in this neighborhood, was turning people off to him. Obviously this is anecdotal, but made me feel that is an undercurrent of support out there.
Finally, I am also excited to share that the office we visited, that of Anna Payne running for the PA State House, was packed with canvassers (she lost by 76 votes in 2022)! This was not 2016. This was and eager, committed group of people. Collectively we knocked on 2000 doors today. There were three people who stood out. At one house, a voter who strongly supports Harris signed up for an absentee ballot. He hadn’t done this yet, and we did it together. At another, a person who had just moved and registered wasn’t sure where to vote, and we showed her (she probably would have learned this anyway, but who knows?). And finally, we knocked on the door of a woman who had been canvassing herself in nearby towns every day for the last three weeks. She told some great stories to my boys that had them in laughing hysterically (“Whenever you see a Trump voter, ask them if they wear diapers too!”). As we were were halfway through our list she pulled up in her car and delivered water and snacks for us.
Does any of this guarantee a win? Of course not. But nobody was annoyed we disturbed them during the football game this time — they were so happy to see us out there canvassing. Turns out, there are some things more important than football.
