Notes from the Field #3 (US Northwest Congressional Battlegrounds) (email)
Hello concerned friends,
What follows are my reflections (#3) about field campaigns in 2 battleground congressional districts in the US Northwest. If you would like to be send #1 and #2, email tenantharley@gmail.com
Marie Perez (WA-3) Good Volunteer Problem
Knocking on doors in upper middle class seniors for Marie Perez (WA-3)
McCloud Skinner Campaign Update (OR-5)
Want to Volunteer on an exciting campaign? (virtual)
1. Marie Perez (WA-3)- Good Volunteer Problem
Marie Perez is a Democrat in a district where the moderate Republican who voted for impeachment was ousted, and replaced with Joe Kent, an extremely right wing candidate. This is one of the most closely watched races in the country- see a good New York Times article “This Race has Everything”
This campaign has over 1,600 volunteers who signed up on their own, an inexperienced but extremely smart field director, and no help from the DCC. I thought I could be helpful in this situation. I met the field director for a beer and talked about this great problem- more volunteers then their skeleton staff can handle. I complemented him on his training of volunteers (the best I have seen in the last 18 months), and offered some suggestions. Anyone who has run a field campaign will tell you that they get lots of volunteers with opinions of how they should do things differently (95% are not helpful) so I was careful not to be “that guy” while also communicating that I feel I can really help and want to support his leadership.
Since this was his first campaign, he relied on the little training he got, as well as polls as to “what works”. We got into a debate about how much to train volunteers on the doors who are talking with undecided voters, but trying to build trust I pulled back, saying we can debate that after the election, lets focus on doubling or tripling the number of volunteers.
Tim said yes to my offer to volunteer 10-15 hours a week, and we are off. He gave me some of his best volunteers and I also started recruiting people in my network. We created a phone bank squad to call through the first list of the 150 most committed canvassers- who would likely do more if asked. I recruited 5 volunteers to this new team and within an hour we were on a zoom call together. Each person agreed to volunteer about 10 hours a week to start working through the list. Tim said the goal is to knock on 10,000 doors in the next 3 weeks, but we needed many more volunteers- and the current volunteers needed to be asked to do more. Once a member of the phone bank squad calls someone, they are then assigned to that squad member- for consistency, relationship building, and accountability- we keep notes of everything. For example- John is on my team (I recruited him at the debate) and he couldn’t volunteer last week because of his son’s birthday. The next week I look at my notes, call him, ask him how the birthday went, and urgently ask him to sign up to knock on doors as soon as possible. Or Sarah signs up to walk last Saturday, and I can follow up to see how it went, and sign her up for something during the week, or encourage her to keep walking on her own. Apps have made many improvements to ground campaigns, but they appear to have severely decreased debriefing and following up. So far we have 7 squad members and 45 volunteers are assigned to them. We are getting on track to the 10,000 knock goal, while also training volunteers on important skills on how to push and follow up. Tim said he can already feel the effects in the volunteer numbers, but the next week is crucial to get this up and running. We don’t have much time.
2. Knocking on doors in upper middle class seniors for Marie Perez (WA-3)
On Sunday, I knocked on doors for Marie Perez in an upper-middle class neighborhood of mostly white seniors in Vancouver Washington-presumed swing voters. One of the things I love about knocking on the doors of strangers, is you never know what is going to happen.
This day was particularly interesting. It was a beautiful day, but once I saw that most people on my list were over 70, I figured I’d reach a bunch of people. On my second door, I realized that they had a sign for the opposing candidate in their lawn. A woman opened the door as I was turning to leave, I said “I’m a volunteer for Marie but I just saw you had a Kent sign, so I’m leaving, have a nice day.” As I was walking away, she completely flew off the handle yelling after me, “You are Stupid! You are such an idiot! Marie sucks! Get out of here!” A bit startled, the best way I’ve learned to handle hostile people is not to let her stop me and to keep organizing- I immediately went to the next door.
Her next door neighbor was super supportive and agreed to volunteer for our campaign to fight for reproductive justice. She would potentially put up a sign, but she had to ask her dad. She told me not to knock on her crazy neighbors door. After talking to a couple more of people on the block, I learned that there was an recent event that really rocked this tight-knit community. After the Mar a Lago raid, the screaming woman put a huge Trump sign that covered her whole house. In response, a number of her neighbors starting putting up Biden signs, which were stolen. More Biden signs went up, they disappeared again. Everyone I talked with told me that the screaming woman did it, they saw her truck, etc. This community was embroiled in a nasty sign war, reminding me of my Isla Vista days, when we needed a team of 10 volunteer sign makers to replace torn down signs daily.
The vast majority of people I talked with were supporting Marie Perez, and this time I did not have to persuade them. When I talk to a supporter, I always want to get supporters to take the next step: “That’s great you will support Marie! Will you take a lawn sign? Will you volunteer?” Given their last experience with signs, many were too afraid to put a lawn sign up. I was pissed- this woman was bullying her community. I then made it my mission to push all these supportive seniors to stand up to the bully and put a sign up in their lawn. These were hard conversations, where supporters were struggling with their fear, not wanting to ignite a new round of nastiness. In the end 9 people agreed to put a Marie sign up. And two people volunteered. One guy told me, “me and my wife were conservative republicans, until Trump. But when that woman stole our signs, it made me vote Democrat every time.”
3. McCloud Skinner Campaign Update
While Marie Perez is down in the polls and a victory would be an upset, Jamie McCloud Skinner (Oregon-5) couldn’t be closer- a true toss-up. This is a race the Democrats must win. In this campaign, the DCC is running the field campaign. Their ground campaign has been extremely disappointing.
I have volunteered several shifts to door knock for McCloud Skinner. The last time I volunteered, I was one of two volunteers, and when I returned, I was not even asked to volunteer after I finished. I still have not received a call from the campaign to volunteer, even though I was one of a few consistent people they had, and the only one under 70.
Anyone who has run a ground campaign will tell you that tight races like this is exactly where a good ground campaign (direct contact with voters on the doors or phones) makes the difference. As a regular volunteer who has signed up on my own, it is incredible to me that I have not been asked to volunteer again. They are sending me a message that my volunteering is not really needed, so I will focus on Marie’s campaign.
Two weeks ago, I called a 24 year old guy named Cody who was fired up about reproductive rights and climate change, and wanted to support McCloud Skinner. I asked him to volunteer, and he enthusiastically said yes. Since I was on an auto-dailer, I couldn’t get his number to follow up. I have asked several times what happened to Cody, but no information. I imagine Cody is sitting at home or playing video games waiting for someone to ask him to volunteer.
The big difference with the Marie campaign is that the Marie campaign believes in the importance of reaching voters directly. An exceptional ground campaign may actually flip this district, although its an uphill fight. But it is the McCloud Skinner campaign that is more likely to go down to a few hundred votes. In fact, there are tons of races throughout the country- governor, senate, congress, that are neck and neck. I would love to hear if anyone has good examples of field campaigns in these races, and who is leading them.
A couple of personal anecdotes on the power of field. In 2008, my husband was torn between Obama and Clinton in the primary. He made is vote for Obama at the last minute after getting 3 phone calls in a week from volunteers in the Obama campaign, and one Hilary robocall from Jack Nicolson (of all people!). My mother recently voted for someone that was not in line with her values. Shocked, I asked her why, she told me that two neighbors knocked on her door. They are both regular voters educated about politics, who made decisions based on volunteer contact.
4. Want to Volunteer on an exciting campaign? (virtual)
Do you want to help? Choice, climate, and democracy are all on the line. Please get plugged into race where you are, even if it is not run perfectly. There are lots of virtual options, but the most effective (and fun) is knocking on doors.
I am also looking for remote and in-person volunteers for Marie Perez’s campaign to defeat the extremely right wing Joe Kent in WA-3 (between Seattle and Portland). Please me back if you are interested.
As always, I really appreciate your thoughts/feedback/disagreements with anything I’ve written.
Harley