Hope Springs from Field PAC’s [dated website] volunteers is knocking on doors in 15 Swing States and/or Congressional Districts, but had expected our last expansion in a single Congressional District outside those 15 last weekend, but weather pulled us back. Now that it is Summer, weather considerations go to the forefront. We are definitely feeling stretched given our current fiscal circumstances.
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced she wouldn’t seek reelection in mid-March but Chris Pappas, the Democrat who has held New Hampshire’s 1st CD since 2018, and the first openly gay man elected to represent New Hampshire in Congress, decided to run. Former (and popular) Governor Chris Sununu announced he won’t run for Senate in 2026.
As you can see from the 2026 New Hampshire map, this is a pure “protect a Democratic Senate seat” play. Pappas’ district is labelled “Leaning Democratic” largely because he is running for the Senate, and most of our canvassing is in NH-01 — the Rochester-Hampton-Concord triangle, but (in NH-02) Franklin, Keene and Lebanon as well. Like i said, pure Senate play.
225 Hope Springs volunteers came out on Saturday in New Hampshire to knock on 16,582 doors. We talked to 1,343 voters and had in-depth conversations with 855 of them, guided by our Issues Questionnaire. All of these responses will be entered into VAN (the shared Democratic database) and shared with Democratic candidates after the primaries.
New Hampshire is still a heavily canvassed state and voters there are used to this kind of voter contact. But they aren’t accustomed to our approach. We’ve gotten, “Isn’t it early” comments, and voters telling us, “Nobody has ever asked that before,” as well.
One of the things that is unique about the New Hampshire electorate is that unaffiliated (or undeclared) voters are the largest plurality here, about 36%. So whereas in most states we are knocking on 60% unaffiliated doors (& 40% Democratic doors), here it is more like 70%. Democrats do represent the largest party (32.5%) but the Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.
So i was too surprised when a volunteer (who i’d known since 2004) mentioned that a voter said to him, “How do you know who I am?” Admittedly showing off (he’s a prospective organizer in his part of the state for us), he said, “it’s right here in VAN” before showing his voter profile in mini-VAN. “Republicans don’t do that,” the voter said, handing the phone back. “It’s all a big secret for them.” Good to know.
We ask 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 using that as a way to screen MAGA-leaning voters that we talk to since we have increased the percentage of unaffiliated voters we talk to each week. But it is possible this question will be dropped.
The #1 Issue in New Hampshire on Saturday was (Sustained High) Prices. “I was promised lower prices and I damn well expect them.” Voters are questioning when the promised drop will occur. Jobs was second, and several voters said they were afraid to leave their job that they didn’t particularly like right now. Concern over threats to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and the fiscal stability of Rural Hospitals was third. Medicaid cuts are a real concern for the second week in a row. The fact that the Senate is now considering cuts to Medicare, the federal health insurance program primarily serving seniors, shows that voters are right to be concerned.
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’ve been asking voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and agencies in the reconciliation package. 2% of the voters who responded said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light, 21% thought just the opposite — unprompted, some mentioned cuts to Medicaid as very problematic. 13% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing. Important to remember that we are knocking on more doors of unaffiliated voters than Democrats in these GOP-held districts. 48% of the voters we talked to this week disapproved. 13% said they approved of the job Gov. Hobbs was doing; 38% said they disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 2 new voters and re-registered 7 voters, who mainly updated their addresses.
49 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.
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!
