Ohio Canvass Wrapup

by snowbored

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday, Dec. 04, 2025 Thursday, Dec. 04, 2025 at 9:05:29am PST

Continuing on with our state wrapups where we’ve ended canvassing. Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] came to in our second year to organize for the Senate race and redistricting. We did good in winning the competitive House seats but lost both Senate races. In between, we organized Privacy Rights supporters for Issue 1. It’s a mixed picture.

It would be hard to argue Ohio remains a swing state in the presidential cycle but you have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.

We spent 28 Saturdays knocking on doors in Ohio this year, primarily in the Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo metropolitan areas. 15,391 Hope Springs volunteers came out to knock on 1,136,949 doors this year. We talked to 91,866 voters at their doors and had in-depth conversations with 58,996 of them, guided by our Issues Questionnaire. We collected another 134,255 responses to our Issues Survey by contacting voters who did not open their doors on Saturdays through other means (usually phone follow ups, but some through texts). IOW, 193,251 responses in total for the year. 71.3% of these were voters who were not identified as Democrats. We don’t canvass Republican households.

We waited for the new maps all Fall. Finally, the maps that came out of the Redistricting Commission were better than expected for Democrats.

The biggest issue voters cared about was Jobs, The Economy, and Affordability. Tariffs, the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (and its impact on Rural Hospitals), and Redistricting were other issues that carried a lot of weight in Ohio this year.

Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again on March 1st. We targeted 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:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/UNRIGtheMidterms

Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot that counts and that is the goal of what we do.

Yes, we really need your help here! Our printer’s bills are — like most things — much higher than we had anticipated for the year. Adding extra states (like California) did not help the budget!

We asked voters if they approved of deep cuts in federal programs and Trump budget. Supporters’ response is reflected by the deep blue line on the graphic below. Opponents are represented by the orangish line. Trump approval is represented by the yellowish line and disapproval by the green line. Approval of their House Incumbent is the maroon line and disapproval the light blue line. Gov. Hobb’s job approval number is represented by the blackish line, and her disapproval numbers are represented by the olive green line.

High Prices and Affordability were the Number 1 issue for the Ohioans we talked to on Saturday. The future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and the threat cuts represent to Rural Hospitals was second. Tariffs and the uncertainty around Agricultural Exports were the third most frequent issues voters raised.

Hope Springs Volunteers registered 99 new voters, while 817 voters re-registered, updating their addresses for the voter file to comply with federal law.

3,754 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms this year. 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.

28 voters filled out Incident Reports this year. A lot of these were reports about primary elections allegations. Incident Reports are used to plan Election Protection activities, and will be combined with other, historical incidents and handed over to District and State Attorneys, Attorneys General and the DoJ Civil Rights Division right before Election Day as a precaution against Election Day Incidents in November. Past polling place activity is a predictor of future voter intimidation or suppression activity.

We knock on doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey, the CSR and Incident Reports. 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.

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.

No other Democratically-aligned org has been methodically trying to circumvent MAGA efforts to rig the House Midterm elections. And we need your help to continue. Our printer costs alone are way beyond our budgeting.

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/UNRIGtheMidterms

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!