As you can see from the 2022 redistricted map, the consensus is that IA-01 is now a toss-up district, while IA-03 is a lean Republican and IA-02 is considered a likely Republican seat (IA-04 is a solid GOP district). We are now in all three of the targeted Congressional Districts, in IA-01, IA-02 and IA-03. The hope is that Early Organizing and building a better database of the electorate (or the non-Republican parts of it) gives us those 800 votes or more.
The Senate seat in Iowa is now open. An open seat represents the best opportunity in Iowa for Democrats in a decade. The Crystal Ball notes, “we’re moving Iowa’s Senate race from Safe Republican to Likely Republican. This puts the Senate race in the same category as the state’s open-seat gubernatorial race, where Democrats recently got their strongest possible recruit, state Auditor Rob Sand.”
Last Saturday, 468 volunteers knocked on 34,491 doors. They talked to 2,828 voters and had in-depth conversations with 1,810 of them, respectively, guided by our Issues Questionnaire.
Concerns over High Prices and a belief that paychecks aren’t keeping up with the rising Cost of Living was the Top Issue on Saturday. Tariffs, especially in how it could affect Agricultural Exports, was the second issue for Iowans on Saturday. Several voters choose to remind us of how soybeans effects the entire local economy. The future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with the impact that cuts in those programs will have on Rural Hospitals was the Third most frequently Issue cited by voters there.
So, more evidence that affordibility is a top voter concern across the country.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again on March 1st. We target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans. The voters we talk to continue to tell us they come away more invested in governance and feel more favorably towards Democrats in general because of our approach.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
We’ve been asking voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and agencies. 1% of the voters we talked to said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light on Saturday. 14% thought just the opposite. 6% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing (49% disapproved). We are also asking how voters view their Incumbent (GOP) Members of Congress. 4% approved and 50% disapproved. 7% approved of what Gov. Reynolds was doing while 43% disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 1 new voter on Saturday. We re-registered 7 voters, who mainly updated their addresses. We differentiate between the new voters and re-registering voters because brand new voters are often ignored by campaigns and we hope to compensate for that somewhat by having volunteers send them post cards before the election and they will also receive robocalls thanking them for registering.
In Iowa, 81 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms on Saturday. We send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials (if possible) responsible for the requested functions, but if there are no Democrats who can further the request, and the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder. We increasingly have local Democratic elected officials and prospective candidates join our Saturday canvasses just because they hear about these CSRs.
We knock on doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey, the CSR and Incident Reports. We record questions voters raise with a Q(uestion)-slip and record other relevant observations on an Observations form. Q-slips are sent to the relevant Democrat to respond to and Observations are entered into VAN. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2026, as well as districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year. There is a lot of work to be done!
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees but we realize that to formalize and professionalize this effort that will have to change eventually. We are a bottom up project, one that doesn't just help Democratic presidential, senate and house candidates, but every Democrat running for office in these swing state areas (who uses VAN).
Hope Springs has been called “the most comprehensive, organized grassroots voter contact project out there right now. It is truly astonishing that it is grassroots-based!” Not sure why it is “astonishing,” but i probably have more faith in grassroots or self-organized efforts because of my experience with Barack Obama’s early days in 2007.
No other Democratically-aligned org has been methodically trying to circumvent MAGA efforts to rig the House Midterm elections. And we need your help to continue. Our printer costs alone are way beyond our budgeting.
If you are able to support Hope Springs from Field’s efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, we would appreciate your support:
