Continuing on with our state wrapups where we’ve ended canvassing. Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] came to circumvent president felon’s hostile takeover of our Democracy. It’s as simple as that. We brought our Ohio model for a special election to the Northern part of California and we made it work! We didn’t win all the red counties but we certainly endeavored to mobilize all the Democrats (and other Prop 50 supporters) we could locate in those red counties.
We were originally asked to canvass Northern California to find 9,300 Prop 50 voters. We blew way past that. But it’s always good to have a “Win” number (target number would be more appropriate) to shoot for. We identified 32,693 1s (strong supporters of Prop 50) in Northern California and then we knocked on their doors during GOTV until they cried “uncle.” I personally consider this nagging, but it works.
Prop 50 Map that Californians approved
We spent 23 days knocking on doors in California, between Labor Day and the election. 15,630 Hope Springs volunteers came out to knock on 935,592 doors during those 60 days. We talked to 73,599 voters at their doors and had in-depth conversations with 47,936 of them, guided by our Issues Questionnaire. We collected another 110,421 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, 158,357 responses in total. 27.1% of these were voters who were not identified as Democrats. We don’t canvass Republican households.
The biggest issue voters cared about was High Prices and Redistricting. The Budget Crisis/Fed. Government Shutdown and the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (and its impact on Rural Hospitals) were other issues that carried a lot of weight in California these two months.
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.
We canvassed every day of the week when Voting Centers opened (although they didn’t open in all (or even many) of the counties where we were knocking on doors). GOTV, baby.
613 of these volunteers came from Nevada to knock on doors in the last 3 weeks before the election. They got up pretty early to make the trip, too. We also had 8 volunteers from Ohio, 3 from Georgia and 2 from my home state of Florida who served as GOTV trainers in the last week or so.
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. Gov. Newsom’s job approval number is represented by the blackish line, and her disapproval numbers are represented by the olive green line.
Note the two top lines. The dark green line at the top is the Trump Disapproval number. The Black line right under it is Newsom’s Approval number. They seem in sync. You can track the progress of this election with these two numbers.
Hope Springs Volunteers registered 73 new voters, while 170 voters re-registered, all before the deadline for the special election.
4,749 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.
4 voters filled out Incident Reports this year. Normally, Incident Reports are used to plan Election Protection activities, but we did not collect enough to make this the basis before the special election. We had to rely on data collected by other groups.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors in California after Labor Day, in support of Prop 50. We target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but that 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.
Here’s the thing: we aren’t knocking on doors in traditionally Blue Districts. Those mostly hug the coast. California Democrats cover those areas superbly. What we are committed to doing is finding Democratic voters who support Prop 50 in the pink and red districts — mainly those who are slated to become Blue in the new map (basically the new CD’s CA-01, CA-02, CA-03 and CA-04 in the map above).
GOTV Week Numbers
We were basically re-running the plan Hope Springs’ volunteers used in Ohio in 2023 — when we turned counties from red to blue in that special election for Issue #1 (Right to Abortion).
We knock on the 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. It’s also a great way for new volunteers to get comfortable knocking on doors.
Back of GOTV lit
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 turn out the vote here, protect Democratic voters, 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!
