Notes from the Field (congress battleground) #1 (email)
Hello Friends,
I’ve decided to volunteer to talk with voters in the mid-term election in my new home in Portland. I’m doing this for a number of reasons, including:
to get connected with the community in my new home
to better understand the state of ground campaigns, particularly in critical swing congressional races
to talk with voters-and more importantly figuring out what moves them on their doorstep- this is more interesting to me than reading polling and listening to pundits. What I learn could help decide some next steps of my project www.basebuilding.net.
I’m currently training 6 young people (graduates of our training program- all in their 20’s) in door knocking and leading canvasses- it helps me to train when I’m doing it too.
I just love knocking on doors and talking with people.
I’m writing to you because I thought you might be interested in this topic. Many of you are experienced canvassers and trainers yourself, many of you are knocking on doors this election, or friends of mine in Portland. I’m having a lot of conversations in my head, and I really would like to put my thoughts out there and would benefit from your reactions, feedback, and advice. If you don’t want to get these, I WON’T be offended, just let me know.
To start, I decided to volunteer one shift a week for 3 campaigns
Jamie McCloud Skinner- progressive democrat white lesbian running for Congress in a dead heat swing district mostly south of Portland, after unseating a blue dog Democrat in the primary.
Marie Perez Glusenkamp in Vancouver Washington- running against a MAGA extremist who unseated a Republican that voted for impeachment. I thought this might also be a swing district, but it looks to favor the republican.
Jo Ann Hardesty- a progressive black woman running for city council re-election in Portland.
Two weeks ago I reached out to each campaign, which included filling out volunteer in-take forms where I made it clear that I was an experienced canvasser thinking I would get a call. No one reached out to me for 2 weeks. I eventually got a text from Jo Ann’s campaign. So I started signing up on Mobilize- a web portal that most campaigns use to get people to sign up for stuff.
The first canvass I showed up for was for Jaime McCloud Skinnner. I had never worked on a swing congressional district, so I was very excited to see what the ground campaign was like. With gerrymandering, there are only 20-30 swing districts, so I figured these would be the places with the most well-resourced and sophisticated ground campaigns in the country.
What occurred was very sad. There were only 5 volunteers for Southwest Portland, I was the only one under 70. The person leading the canvass clearly had no training, and did not bring any urgency or excitement. We were basically just given lit, and sent on our way with no training. She forced a picture “because Washington needs to know we are here.” When I came back, I wasn’t asked to volunteer any more. There was no water for volunteers walking on a hot day. No “thank you for volunteering, this is so important”. I could go on and on.
I was really pissed. It felt like there was a ground campaign only because a few lost souls would wind up showing up, and you might as well give them something to do. This is a battleground district! Trump is in complete control of the Republican Party! The House could go either way, and this district could be one of the deciding ones!
I always thought Democrats always had superior ground to Republicans, that was part of the recipe for winning, particularly in tight races. What is happening? My understanding is that there have been some pretty sophisticated ground campaigns in the recent past (Obama, Bernie, Warren, AOC) why weren’t these lessons being built on in such a consequential election? I also felt sorry for the staff person, who was basically throwing her hands into the air. When I asked if these people will be contacted again before the election, she told me it was impossible with such a big district. I saw a young staffer needed an inspiring campaign that she could feel she was playing a critical role in.
We were knocking on non-democrat swing voters- which was also a strategy I didn’t really understand- shouldn’t we be exciting the Democratic base, particularly people who likely share values of fighting climate change, pushing for reproductive justice, and preserving democracy? But I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the people running the campaign who likely have good reasons for how they cut the turf.
My door knocking was interesting. I talked with 12 voters on the list, virtually all were undecided, and they were not very talkative. I tried the rap I was given, and boring things like “small business woman” who “won’t take corporate donations” was not moving anyone. Only when I talked about Trump, did I get a reaction. It has been bothering me all week that I got so many undecided people but I couldn’t get them to talk about WHY they were undecided and what they cared about- critical information to then figure out how to move them. Anyway, I have some new ideas I’m going to try in my next walk.
My second shift was a phone bank with an organization called Swing Left- an all-volunteer group formed out a reaction to Trump winning in 2016. This time I think I was the only one under 60, but they had way more urgency than the Skinner campaign itself. The training was decent as well- it felt that we were a team that knew the urgency of the moment. We called on a predictive dialer. In the meantime I found out on the website that the candidate has a GOAT- an actual goat! So I started saying why I liked the candidate, including that she has a goat- this got people to loosen up people on the phone- apparently everyone in this district is a fan of goats! My shift ended strong talking with a 24 year-old named Cody. He didn’t know the candidate but he was really passionate about climate change and women’s reproductive rights. I asked him to volunteer and he said yes- I am worried he will get lost and won’t get a call.….I will follow up.
My 3rd shift was door knocking for Jo Ann Hardesty’s campaign, who was combining her walk with two other candidates. The three local women of color candidates attracted a diverse group of folks and lots of young people. It had a great community feel, and Jo Ann made a great candidate speech- thanking volunteers, providing urgency, inoculating against knuckleheads at the doors, providing vision. I was impressed, clearly she had knocked on lots of doors in her life.
The local campaign training was much better than the Skinner one. But I was surprised that they sent everyone out on their own, regardless of level of experience. And there was no report back- we just finish and go home. Leading campaign, I always felt the debrief at the END of the walk was critical in so many ways- hearing what the conversations were like (this could adjust the rap), helping people talk about the challenging stuff, finding how to help improve their training, and MOST IMPORTANTLY signing them up as soon as possible for the next action.
I was having some technical difficulties with the app, so I ended up having a partner- a young trans person, and self-described “digital nomad” (a website developer who pops around to different cities as they feel like it in AirBnBs) who just stumbled upon the volunteer opportunity after connecting with the Democratic Socialists. They needed some basic training as they have not really knocked on doors. They were grateful with my basic tips, which they got by total accident, because of my technical problems.
Oh, and Marie’s Perez’s campaign? I still can't even find how to volunteer. I have messaged her directly on IG, filled out their form, looked for online opportunities to door knock. But nothing but a text inviting me to a rally at a debate a week away. I may give up on this one and just focus on the other two.
Please send me any insights, feedback, or advice you have! Also, if anyone wants to join me knocking on doors in the Portland area, or make phone calls virtually to make sure that Trump doesn't get control of the House, please let me know!
Take care,
Harley