Notes From the Field # 2 (Northwest Congressional Battlegrounds) (email)
Hello Friends,
What is happening with ground campaigns in politics, particularly in swing congressional races? To find out, I’ve decided to hit the doors, volunteering on a couple of key campaigns. Here are some of my reflections.
Topics in this email
Talking with and (more importantly) moving swing voters at the doors
Jamie McCloud OR 5 Update
Marie Glusenkamp Perez WA 3 Update
What happened to volunteering in campaigns?
Jo Ann Hardesty Portland City Council update
Wanna help?
(please email me if you DONT want these email or if you would like #1)
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1. Talking with and (more importantly) moving swing voters at the doors
In my last email (#1), I mentioned a frustrating door knocking experience where I talked with 10 mostly suburban undecided voters for Jaime McCloud Skinner, and left scratching my head, mostly because the rap the campaign gave me (she’s a small business owner, won’t take money from corporations) was being met only with polite nods. When I asked them what was important to these voters, they were not talkative. I thought all week about how to move these voters, first to get them to talk, then to get them to support Jaime.
The next time out, I tried a couple of things that worked. First, I needed to lighten the mood, get a smile on their faces, loosen the mood. I learned that the candidate had a pet goat (later I learned it was named after Dolly Parton). I smiled and said, “Good morning, I’m out here volunteering for Jaime who is running for congress. Do you know about the election? I really like Jaime, she grew up with a single mom, put herself through school, AND she has a goat!” I found that everyone that day had an opinion about goats (mostly positive, one guy who really hated goats but told me all about it). Once the ice was broken, I’d say, “The real reason I’m here is that I don’t want Trump to have more power.” That day, almost everyone had some kind of gut response of agreement. Now that we were in agreement on something, I’d ask what they think. Unlike the week before, I now had a conversation going.
These were middle of the road voters who didn’t like Trump but were also not big friends of Democrats. I continued with something like, “it used to be in the Republican party, you can have different opinions. Now, if you are against Trump, you will lose your job. That doesn’t happen with the Democrats, some disagree with Biden all the time. What do you think? Do you want someone who will just listen to Trump? I think we need an independent voice to represent the district”
After talking with these moderate voters, I began to really feel for them. They have strong opinions, and do not feel represented. But the main thing we agreed on- they did not want to give control of the country back to Trump.
I would ask them what they care about, and many were pro-gun, anti-environment, inflation, cancel culture. I would acknowledge (not debate), these are very difficult issues- we need someone who will not just listen to Trump, but listen to the people of this district, and have an open mind. Jamie will do that- will you join me in supporting Jaime and stop Trump from being in control of congress?” I didn't get a lot of strong yes’s- but many moved from undecided to leaning/probably. Much better than last time.
I took this feedback to the field organizer, who was interested and said he would take it back to his team. A week later, I saw the same field organizer, who told me he brought it to the “communications department” who dismissed the feedback outright. I continued with the same approach in two more walks, and it continued to work. Everyone I was talking with who was also trying to move voters were very interested in what was working for me on the doors but the campaign was not.
2. Jamie McCloud OR 5 Update
Jamie McCloud Skinner is the Democrat running in Oregon’s 5th district, after beating the blue dog democrat in the primary. The other day I learned that our paths almost crossed before- when I was organizing food service workers to unionize at Intel in Santa Clara back in 2007, she was one of the union’s early political supporters on the Santa Clara City Council. Oregon 5 is a district that Democrats MUST win to have a chance of keeping the house. Last I checked, 538 said there is a 51% chance that McCloud Skinner will win- a true toss up.
Given that her insurgent progressive campaign took out a more conservative Democrat, it has been confusing why the ground volunteer situation for this campaign has been so abysmal. Yesterday, I went to Southeast Portland at 10am. I almost didn’t go because the staffer who said he would call me to schedule my next volunteer time last week, did not call me. It didn’t feel like volunteers were important to the campaign. But I signed up on the Mobilize website anyway. Mobilize is where it seems the main way campaign get volunteers. When I showed up, I found that I was 1 of only 2 volunteers! And that no one was signed up for the following 1pm shift. We are 5 weeks away from the election, this is a critical toss up district that includes part of progressive Portland, and there are 2 staff people and 2 volunteers? How could that be possible?
I was wondering who is running the show here. I found out that after McCloud Skinner took out the incumbent, the DCC took over the ground campaign. Everyone I’ve met so far from the DCC has been extremely unprepared and untrained in the basics of volunteer recruitment (not their fault). Apparently their field directors flew out here from Chicago and Georgia. Yesterday, after finishing my door knocking, the DCC staffer thanked me, we chatted a bit about my experience, and she did not even ask me when I could come again?! To me someone who just volunteered is your #1 target to come again.
Swing Left, an all volunteer organization in Oregon, has way more training and urgency than whatever the DCC is doing. Embarrassing. I made calls with Swing Left, a great group of mostly seniors. They also are clearly NOT making calls to volunteer. When I suggested that people be called to volunteer, they acted like it was a great idea they hadn’t really thought of it or been doing. But, to their credit, they are moving on the idea. The more volunteers, the more contacts, the more votes, the more chance you will win. It is scary to me, with everything at stake, and how close this election will be, that this is the state of the ground campaign 5 weeks out.
3. Marie Glusenkamp Perez WA 3 Update
This campaign has a very different problem- they have more volunteers than they know what to do with. In this district, an ultra-conservative Joe Kemp, unseated a moderate republican Jaime Herrera Butler who voted for impeachment, suddenly putting this district in play. Last week this race was on the cover of the New York Times Sunday Opinion section- it is a good and terrifying article. Kemp is a true conspiracy theorist who is handsome, smart, and has a very compelling personal story- 11 combat tours and he recently lost his wife in combat and is now a widower and single dad. Trump, Fox, and the ultra right see a very bright future for this guy. He could be a future presidential candidate. You should read this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/opinion/house-republican-elections.html
So I’ve been trying to volunteer for Marie Perez’s campaign since August 14th with no luck. I showed up at a “rally” outside of the debate between Marie Perez and Joe Kemp, hoping that someone would organize me. Instead I was given a shirt and a ticket to the debate. I was horrified by the debate, and had to leave halfway through, wondering what I was doing there, I should be knocking on doors.
I finally got my chance a few days later, after a guy named Tim responded to my email with the link to their Mobilize website - https://www.mobilize.us/marieforcongress/
I showed up at the Vancouver (WA) Farmers Market, and was pleasantly surprised to see about 50 volunteers ready to door knock. I was a bit annoyed at the picnic-like atmosphere (starting 30 minutes late) where so much is on the line, but I would soon come to understand the situation a bit later.
Basically it looked like Tim was the only person trying to get 50 people on the doors. He was clearly not prepared for this. I asked him if I could help, but he didn’t know how to delegate. Finally things got started and Marie made a good “we need to stop this extremist” speech, and Tim led a training for all the first time walkers. I have worked or volunteered on over 10 campaigns in the last year, and Tim’s training was by far the best. He was friendly, clear, and urgent. He was the first person I’ve seen in the last year to emphasize the importance to the campaign of getting good data, and he walked through all the codes, including that marking “refuse” or “inaccessible” should be used as a last resort because they will be removed from the list. He talked about making the conversation personal. It was pretty basic stuff, but I have not seen anyone else do a training like this- most people are just sent off with a list, and not even expected to return, because now its all on the app.
I had a technical problem and needed a paper list, so I got to chat up Tim on the way to the office. I complimented him on his training, and he was surprised. This was his first time doing anything like this, and he has never been involved in politics. He just knew the candidate, and stepped up, and is now running the field campaign.
I assumed he got some training from the DCC. It turned out to be some consultant. But it doesn’t seem like they are still involved, or that he is getting any ongoing training- like how to you get your best volunteers to step up so you can lead a group of 50, a number that will likely grow.
He sent me out to Washougal, a bit outside of Vancouver WA. My anti-trump/extremist convo (without the goat) worked very well there. These were the very suburban voters I had heard so much about in the news that turned on Trump in the last general election. This is not new information. So why aren’t we using a anti-Trump message to move people on the doors?
This campaign has an exciting problem. There are volunteers showing up without anyone organizing them. Imagine how many more you could get if someone was recruiting volunteers! But they still have the problem of managing them. I’m going to meet up with Tim for a beer tonight. I may ditch the McCloud Skinner campaign and go all in with Marie Perez.
For Democrats to keep the house they need to win ALL toss ups (like McCloud Skinner) and pick up a few like Maria Glusenkamp Perez’s district.
4. What happened to volunteering in campaigns?
Volunteering for political campaigns is as old as politics itself. It seems like there is not a culture of pushing people to volunteer in campaigns in these two critical races for the future of our country.
Is the Mobilize website, where people self select to volunteer, replacing basic organizing? I know google maps has greatly reduced my sense of direction. The Mobilize app- once you sign up- sends you an automatic email telling you where to go. Once you are done, there is a follow up text where you can say your experience was “good” or “bad”. Automated organizing. So do campaigns not feel you need to ask people to volunteer anymore? What about all the people that won’t go to the app, but need to be organized? If Jaime’s walks are drawing just 2 volunteers, are they hitting the phones to urge volunteers to step up? Are they getting lots of nos?
Are people not willing to volunteer when asked? That’s not my experience. Just 16 months ago, I sent an email to a list of 13,000 people asking who is mad about the housing and homelessness crisis, and wants to do something about it and learn organizing skills by volunteering 20 hours a week for 2 months. I got 62 responses saying yes! Out of that group 8 people actually DID volunteer 20 hours a week for 2 months, most of whom are now organizers. Imagine if the DCC along with sending us 20 fundraising emails a day, would just send ONE email to their list of x million people - something like…”Are you Pissed at what is going on? Will you volunteer to protect women’s right to choose? Fight climate change? Fight white supremacy? Protect Democracy? Will you volunteer 10-20 hours a week?” How many fundraising emails a day do you get from Democrats, Planned Parenthood, etc- and how many ORGANIZING emails do you get asking you to volunteer?
5. Jo Ann Hardesty Portland City Council update
The 3rd race I'm involved in is to support progressive council Portland City Council Jo Ann Hardesty. A poll just came out that has some bad news:
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/09/poll-shows-jo-ann-hardesty-challenger-rene-gonzalez-with-big-lead-as-pair-ready-for-portland-council-debate.html
Crime and homelessness seem to be hammering progressives in many cities. I am very interested in knocking on doors in my neighborhood in Northeast Portland for Jo Ann for a couple of reasons. One, while so much voter contact is from a brand new person every time, I always felt having a relationship and having continual contact was actually the most effective- like the old “precinct leader” model that it doesn’t seem many campaigns do anymore, where someone is in charge of their neighborhood and builds relationships over time.
The other challenge I would like to see is how to convince voters to support an incumbent progressive in this climate when many people are concerned that crime and homelessness are out of control. And when many are blaming (rightly or wrongly) their local politicians. What do you say to them? If you have any experience with this on the doors let me know. I have some ideas to try on the doors and will report back.
6. Wanna help?
There are many ways virtually and locally to help with these campaigns. I would love to work with a small group of volunteers that could commit 10-20 hours a week for the next few weeks. If you are interested or know someone who is, and will get some training along the way, please have them email tenantharley@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading this and being a part of this journey. Please do send any thoughts, feedback or reflections!
harley