Notes from the Field #8 (Knocking on Doors Again!) (email)

Welcome to my grassroots organizing journal, where I share thoughts and reflections on how to recruit and train volunteers to win over moderate voters for democratic candidates. Prior entries have detailed my experiences in several elections in 2022, most notably, WA-3, where Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s novice campaign for Congress stunned the political establishment by flipping a +12 Republican district (538 gave Gluesenkamp a 2% chance of winning). You can learn more about the victory in this article, editorial or podcast.

My unscientific survey in WA-3

I’ve been wanting to go knock on doors since Marie won, to see what swing voters in particular are thinking now. Also, I believe we need to be organizing year round, not just during elections.

So one Sunday, I went out to hit some doors in WA-3. I made up an organization – Washington United, and I started to figure out a rap that got people to open up. It went something like this:

“Hi! I’m Harley, and I’m a volunteer with Washington United. We are concerned with the rising extremism in politics. Did you hear that Donald Trump is running for President again? What do you think about that? What issues are most important to you?”

I’d then discuss whatever they wanted to talk about and try to find areas of agreement. I’d say, “I think there is too much drama and not enough focusing on these important issues affecting everyday Washingtonians. What do you think? Did you vote in the last election? Why/why not? Did you support Marie or Kent? Why? Did you hear Kent is running for re-election? Do you know how extreme his views are? I volunteered for Marie last election because she is not extreme and is rolling up her sleeves to represent this district….”

In my unscientific survey, I spoke with six voters. One was a strong Kent supporter, one was a strong Marie supporter, and four people were in the middle. I thought that if there were an election tomorrow, their votes would be completely up for grabs – not unlike the feeling I had knocking on over 700 doors in the campaign.

For example, Tyler, a white guy in his 50s, was concerned with crime and homelessness. He didn’t like Trump but voted for Kent. He was surprised and concerned when I told him about some of Kent’s extreme views, particularly his close associations with white supremacists.

Gordy, a white 79-year-old man, loved Reagan and Eisenhower, didn’t like Trump, and liked Jamie Herrera Beutler, the former moderate Republican representative who was primaried after voting to impeach Trump. Gordy didn’t vote in the last election. He was concerned about homelessness but said, “I’m tired of paying for it.” He also told me Denmark has no rape problem because they legalize prostitution and they castrate rapists.

Then there was Gordy #2, also a white guy in 70s. “You are the second Gordy I’ve talked to,” I said. “Yeah, my buddy Gordy is around the block.” He also talked about homelessness: “Some need help, but some want to be homeless.” A very religious man, Gordy #2 didn’t like Trump or Kent. He voted for Marie. He doesn’t like most politicians but he did like Herrera Beutler. He then told me he was very conflicted about guns. He told me his brother had been murdered with a gun six months ago in a Costco parking lot. He told me he had two kids who carry concealed weapons, including one son who carries 24/7 and legally owns an AK 47. I asked why he was packing so much heat, and he responded, “He says wants to have an upper hand in any conflict.”

Reconnecting with Mel

Mel was probably the most conservative volunteer I’ve ever recruited in a political campaign. I met her at a WA-3 debate and noticed her passion. I caught her outside and got her phone number (she was quite suspicious and thought I might be an ax murderer). I found out that she was a mother of three from the rural community of Kamala. She was a moderate voter who often voted Republican (she voted for Herrera Beutler), but was repelled by Kent’s extremism and was 100% in for Marie. She was tired of fretting on the sidelines and jumped at an opportunity to put her strong emotions into action.

My experience was that volunteers in political campaigns ranged from left to very left. Moderates didn’t volunteer; they just voted. When I met Mel and saw what an incredible door knocker she was, I wondered, How many Mel’s are there out there? Only Mel can say at the door, “I’m a mother of three from a tiny rural community and I regularly voted Republican. I really support the 2nd amendment and am very concerned about crime and homelessness, and let me tell you why this time, I’m voting and even volunteering for a Democrat.”

Mel was one of the most thankful people for being organized. She posted on Facebook about how I was her new BFF who taught her to knock on doors. She constantly thanks me for believing in her, and for giving her the opportunity to do something positive with the intense feelings she had.

When I called her about reactivating the Marie volunteer base, she was all in. “How can I help?” she said immediately. I asked her to make a list of her Instagram and Facebook friends and rank them 1, 2, and 3 in level of support for sanity. She suggested getting together a meeting of fellow moderates to her home, and that we “tag-team” push them to volunteer. She was interested in knocking on doors in her neighborhood but wanted some guidance.

I also reconnected with some other members of the Call Squad, the team that volunteered 10 hours a week solely to recruit in-district volunteers, and most were enthusiastic. I recruited my good friend Daniel from Seattle, who was a volunteer trainer in the Obama years but has not been active in elections much since.

I talked with Marie campaign staff members about investing in organizing to continue to build the base in 2023, especially since Marie will be target No. 1 for Republicans to take back a seat they should have won. They were enthusiastic but told me that even though Marie is raising a lot of money, the Democratic establishment is saying 2023 is a fund-raising year not a fund-spending year.

It got me thinking, if there is a serious organizing plan to build the base in 2023, we may have to do it on our own.

Reactivating volunteers for Marie

Since each Call Squad member was in charge of consistently calling 20 to 30 volunteers to turn out to door knock, we had their numbers. So on Friday, we had our first limited phone bank to gauge the temperature of the volunteer base. How can we keep volunteers active after a big exciting electoral victory?

Our rap went something like this:

“Hi! I was a volunteer with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign. How are you? Thank you for volunteering and contributing to her victory! How do you feel about it? As you know, the Republican won the house and their party is controlled by the extreme right wing. And did you hear that Kent is running again? And Donald Trump is too? Some Marie volunteers are talking about continuing the momentum, and fighting for our country, for democracy. What do you think? Do you want to help?”

Three of us called for half an hour. We tried to talk for a few minutes with each person that would talk with us. We got one “no” (a Marie volunteer who liked Trump – a rarity!), two people who were generally interested in volunteering and three who were extremely enthusiastic; it was as if they had been waiting for this phone call. We also heard from a volunteer named Will, who contacted his volunteer organizer out of the blue two weeks ago. I remember Will; he took a week off his truck driving job to volunteer for Marie. He used to be a Republican, and wanted to know if there were any volunteer opportunities to continue the momentum.

Now that we have a rap that generally works, and a “warm” list of volunteers, we are going to do a larger phone bank. If you want to join us, let me know. Either way, we’ll keep you posted.