Hope Springs from Field PAC volunteers in Northern California and Pennsylvania have been a little busy! I’ve been camped out in California for about a week (save for my Voter Protection trip to D.C.) and a couple of volunteers were saddened by my return home on Election night. “I always sleep the second the polls close,” my job is done. Yeah, i’ve missed some momentus nights, but (basically) all i care about is winning. Which inevitably means there’s not a lot of sleep before the polls close.
Obligatory Consensus 2026 Senate Map
But some volunteers have said they feel cheated. I guess the celebrations (hopefully) are important aspects of the campaign, too. I’m a great disappointment!
Hope Springs came here with a pur-pose: put some fight in the Democrats here (surrounded, in their minds, by Republicans everywhere) and leave behind skills, experience and winning attitude so that these envisioned blue Congressional Districts can win next year. President felon makes that easier. You know, the more he opens his mouth.
In Pennsylvania, it’s all about winning a judicial retention election. Sounds easy, right? Except for the millions and millions of dollars conservatives have spent trying to defeat us. It’s just sad.
We’ve been knocking on doors every day of the week last week in California and Pennsylvania. That’s how we do GOTV (Get-Out-the-Vote). We’ve been “dragging” voters to Voting Centers or to mail their ballots (whichever they prefer and is available). We have talked to more than 109,588 voters Democratsin Northern California since Labor Day. In Pennsylvania, we have talked to more than 228,068 voters.
In Northern California, we identified 32,693 1s (strong supporters of Prop 50) and in Pennslyvania. we identified 22,685 1s. These made up the core of our GOTV lists. There are more, those are the numbers available to me at this time.
But we’ve found a number of 1s who have turned in their ballot at an Early Voting Center or by mail. Mail makes it a little harder because VAN doesn’t record the ballot returned until the elections office receives it. Still, those 32,693 1s in California have been wittled down to 14,835 and the 22,685 1s in Pennsylvania down to 15,737.
Our late afternoon/evening canvasses on the weekdays focuses on our 1s and 2s. Volunteers know which one a voter they are talking to is designated, and our 1s are a straight, have you cast and returned your ballot yet? 2s receive a bit of persuasion, often using the notes prior canvassers have left behind. And we are already knocking on their doors multiple times.
In California, at least, some volunteers were a bit perplexed by our Observa-tions Forms where they record these notes. But now that they have been exposed to the whole system, they get it. Earlier voter contacts recorded in VAN (with individual notes from earlier volunteers) form the founda-tion of these persuasion pitches. One likely supporter (2) voter i talked to on Friday had this note: ‘Hates Trump. Is there a stronger term.’
My persuasion pitch: Prop 50 offers you a chance to vote against Trump again.
“How do you know how I feel about Trump?” (He may have said, I don’t know you.)
I showed him my phone (miniVAN) with the earlier note. “Oh.” If that connection hadn’t occurred to him (plenty of ads out there making that connection), it did now. Send a message.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors in California after Labor Day, in support of Prop 50 and has been canvassing in Pennsylvania since March 29th. We target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but that 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/UNRIGtheMidterms
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.
Yes, we really need your help here! Our printer’s bills are — like most things — much higher than we had anticipated for the year. Adding extra states (like California) did not help the budget!
GOTV is one thing that Hope Springs volunteers have gotten really good at.
71 volunteers came out to knock on doors for our GOTV canvass in Northern California on Thursday. 48 came on Halloween and 582 showed up yesterday. We expect 70+ more to show up on tonight.
This is pure Get-Out-the-Vote. They are only knocking on doors of voters already committed to supporting Prop 50 or told us they were leaning that way (2s). But that means driving from door-to-door. Sometimes for miles before the next door. We’ve already helped out a few of these volunteers with gift cards for gas, because, well, gas isn’t cheap (no matter what the president claims!).
In Pennsylvania, 55 volunteers came out to knock on doors on Thursday. 51 came out on Halloween and 652 showed up yesterday (Sunday). We expect more than 70 tonight. On the weekdays, we are only knocking on doors of voters already committed to supporting these Justices on the weekdays. But that means driving from door-to-door because there can be quite a bit of distance between doors. Sometimes miles.
Volunteers knocked on 4,451 doors on Thursday and talked to 373 voters in California. We “connected” with 247 (had in-depth conversations) and 197 voters told us whether they had voted yet, and returned their ballot if they had done so.
Volunteers knocked on 3,478 doors on Halloween and talked to 295 voters. 196 voters had in-depth conversations with one of our volunteers and 163 of them told us whether they had voted yet (and returned their ballot if they had done so).
Volunteers knocked on 37,480 doors on Wednesday and talked to 3,110 voters. 2,441 voters had in-depth conversations with us and 1,657 of them told us if they had voted yet (and returned their ballot if they had done so). All of this is recorded in VAN.
In Pennsylvania, volunteers knocked on 3,729 doors on Thursday and talked to 309 voters. 207 responded. 145 voters either told us their vote status.
Volunteers knocked on 3,478 doors on Halloween and talked to 295 voters. 195 responded and 158 of them told us about their voting plans.
Volunteers knocked on 45,966 doors on Sunday and talked to 3,815 voters. 2,441 responded. 1,748 of them told us whether they had voted yet or they had a plan to vote.
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 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 the non-GOTV canvassing (iow, our 1s’ neighbors) is the Issues Survey, asking voters if they have decided to vote on Prop 50 (and how they are planning to vote). 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:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/UNRIGtheMidterms
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!
