It has been my practice on Fridays to highlight the state where the most Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] volunteers showed up the previous Saturday. This week, that was Pennsylvania. And i think we know why: the weather was spectacular for canvassing on Saturday morning. It wasn’t nippy when volunteers gathered for pre-canvass training, nor too hot when they finished a few hours later. Kinda nice.
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It’s the kind of weather that makes voters open their doors and talk a little while. People aren’t concerned about letting the air conditioning — or heat — out. Nice
We have really stretched our resources here, targeting PA-01, PA-07, PA-08, PA-10 and PA-17. PA-08 has been changed from Leaning-R to a Toss-Up district, joining PA-07 and PA-10 in that designation. PA-01 is well within the range Democrats have been winning this year. It’s a target-rich environment.
There’s no U.S. Senate election this year, and the big media focus is on the state elections. Our focus, of course, is winning a majority in the U.S. House. But control of the Pennsylvania General Assembly will be on the ballot in 2026, too; Democrats and Republicans will each vie to maintain control of one legislative chamber while attempting to flip the other. Democrats flipped the state House in 2022.
Pennsylvania is poised to be ground zero for a hotly contested midterm election cycle that will determine whether Republicans will continue to control both chambers of Congress, or whether Democrats can regain (at least) control of the House. What happens in the gubernatorial race is going to have real consequences down ballot.
Control of the House of Representatives could come down to four pivotal battleground races in Pennsylvania.
With an increasingly limited map of competitive seats, both Democrats and Republicans are emphasizing the importance of these campaigns, which are about to get floods of money and investment from both sides.
Some of that has already started, including from Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is on a party-building kick as he faces a re-election bid that, as of yet, is not expected to be particularly competitive. Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, has emphasized those four races, making primary endorsements in each and signaling he will be deeply involved in them as November nears. Help the battleground Democrats win, and Shapiro will be able to tell Democratic presidential voters about how he helped the party retake the House and defeat a broad spectrum of Republican House members. Fall short, and his political strength will come under further scrutiny.
On Saturday, 1,203 volunteers come out to canvass in these five Congressional districts, with a special emphasis on the even-numbered state Senate districts within. Volunteers knocked on 74,345 doors. They talked to 5,947 voters and had in-depth conversations with 3,805 of them, respectively, guided by our Issues Questionnaire.
Hope Springs from Field PAC is back knocking on doors this cycle. We continue to target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with our systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but that Democrats are determined to deliver the best, most affordable 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 and that is the goal of what we do.
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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 (did not help the budget!
We’ve added two things to our questionnaire, both of them driven by president felon’s insistence on the Save Act. These are just in case that thing passes so we can protect our voters for November.
Other than that, the Issues Surveys haven’t really changed. Voters like to tell us what is important to them!
On June 20th, the Price of Gas was was the Number 1 issue for the voters we talked to. Voters feeling Squeezed in this Economy was second and Health Care Concerns was third on Saturday.
6% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing, while 47% disapproved. For this canvass, we knocked on more unaffiliated than Democratic doors, about 65/35, depending on the walk list.
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2% of the voters who responded Approved of the job their Republican incumbent Member of Congress was doing while 57% expressed Disapproval. The PA-17 numbers were not included here (it’s confusing). 51% approved of what Gov. Shapiro was doing, 5% disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 8 new voters and re-registered 14 voters on Saturday, who mainly updated their addresses.
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268 voters filled out Constituent Service Requests. We send 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.
1 voter filled out an Incident Report. 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, Attorney Generals 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.
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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 Report. 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.
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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.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with some really, really onerous new voter regulations, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them and helping them to check their current voter registration status, if they cannot access it online themselves.
Our biggest expense is Printing the Walk Lit that we leave at every door. Access to the Voter File is our second largest cost. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees (yet) 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.
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!