We are now canvassing in 15 of Hope Springs from Field PAC [dated website, to be updated in the Fall] target states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia & Wisconsin. We are fairly stretched for an all-volunteer outfit but we still hope to expand into one more Congressional District and (apparently) one more state. Details on that latter (the added state was a new suggestion from organizers and statewide candidate in that state).
We started off the year with no plans to return to Minnesota. But Tina Smith chose to forego running for re-election, and Minnesota volunteers decided to renew the effort. Perhaps because Republicans in the state were crowing about Smith’s decision.
Saturday was our fifth canvass in Minnesota this cycle. Volunteers were initially surprised when we started, but any shock has warn off. It’s not as blue as some would prefer to think. And we are settling down to the fact that there’s a race (several, actually) to be won.
As Nathan Gonzales notes:
Vice President Kamala Harris’ 51-47 percent victory over Donald Trump in 2024 masks the challenge Republicans have statewide. Democrats’ advantage in Minnesota has been fairly stable over the last decade. They had an 8-point Baseline advantage after the 2014 elections compared to a 7-point advantage today.
But Minnesota is not overwhelmingly Democratic and the open seat creates uncertainty. So we’re changing our rating from Solid Democratic to Battleground.
Minnesota Republicans have not won a statewide race in nearly two decades, although they have come within a whisker of doing so. Almost immediately after the 2024 election results came in, Royce White, the GOP’s losing nominee against Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and a former professional basketball player, announced another Senate run. Some Republicans think he will be a strong candidate (although he only raised $200,000 in new contributions last quarter). This is a wide-open primary, though, on both sides:
As of April 28, 2025, noteworthy declared and potential candidates included the following. Click here to view all of the candidates for the seat.
347 volunteers came out to knock on doors in Minnesota on Saturday. We knocked on 25,226 doors and volunteers talked to 2,043 voters. 1,307 of those voters answered questions to at least part of the Issues Survey.
Worries over Inflation was the Number 1 Issue in Minnesota on Saturday. Jobs was second. Tariffs was third.
We’ve added one thing to our questionnaire: we are asking voters whether they approve of the administration’s cuts to federal programs and agencies. Given that we are talking to more unaffiliated voters this year, we are offering that as a way to screen MAGA-leaning voters that we talk to.
Other than that, the Issues Surveys aren’t really changing. We may modify them again, if necessary. Voters like to tell us what is important to them!
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:
As i mentioned above, we ask voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and budget cuts. 1% of the Minnesota voters who responded said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light, 24% thought just the opposite — unprompted, some mentioned cuts to Social Security services as problematic. 10% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing (44% disapproved). 52% had a favorable impression of Gov. Walz while 4% disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 3 new voters and re-registered 18 voters, who mainly updated their addresses in compliance with federal law.
81 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. We sent completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if 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 knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey, the CSR and Incident Report. 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.
As of April 28, 2025, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball each rated the general election Lean Democratic, while Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated it Battleground Democratic. Click here for more information on race forecasts.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or Congressional Races in 2026. There is a lot of work to be done! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with some really, really onerous new voter regulations, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them and helping them to check their current voter registration status, if they cannot access it online themselves.
Our biggest expense is Printing the Walk Lit that we leave at every door. Access to the Voter File is our second largest cost. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
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.
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.
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:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!
