I’ve worked in changing red districts to blue for decades now, and i always use this analogy: think of Republican districts or states like a brick wall. “We are the sledgehammer!”
In the past few years, as Hope Springs from Field PAC became more grassroots-driven (leaving behind our legacy as an Obama-alum project), i’ve been using the winter months between our canvassing efforts to visit with volunteers in our target states. Pennsylvania was the first series of stops on my January Northern tour. I made four stops in Pennsylvania, visiting volunteers in PA-01 (and other Philadelphia-area volunteers), PA-07, PA-08, PA-10 and PA-17, before moving on to Ohio.
We did very well in the Judicial Reten-tion races here, and Pennsylvanians will next go to the polls on Tuesday, May 19, 2026 for the Primary Election. At this point, we plan to start canvassing again after that.
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; 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.
We go into 2026 feeling quite upbeat: Democrats won a massive upset in March when they flipped a Lancaster County state Senate seat. We believe that a relatively new map and the Lancaster County flip could open a viable path to a Democratic majority in the state Senate. Twenty-five even-numbered districts in the 50-member state Senate are on the ballot this year.
Blue = March 7th kickoffs Dark Blue = Second Wave
Bl Green = Third Wave Green (Maine) = Summer St
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.
Most people expect Pennsylvania’s 7th, 8th and 10th Congressional District to be the most hotly contested races of the cycle. But all four of Pennsylvania’s swing-seat Republican congressmen are uniquely vulnerable due to their own failures and self-inflicted wounds. What happens in the gubernatorial race is going to have real consequences downballot.
We spent 37 Saturdays knocking on doors in Pennsylvania last year, in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (PA-17) metropolitan areas and in PA-07, PA-08 and PA-10. 20,077 Hope Springs volunteers came out to knock on 1,460,077 doors this year. We collected 257,484 responses to our Issues Survey last year. 61.8% of these were voters who were not identified as Democrats. (We don’t canvass Republican households.)
Hope Springs from Field PAC starts knocking on doors March 7th this year. We will 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.
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!
PA-17, representing Pittsburgh suburbs, rated likely to remain in Democratic hands, is where Republicans think they have best shot at their own pickup in the state.
In PA-01, a high off-year election turnout led to Democrats winning more local seats in Bucks County. “It’s a fantastic omen,” one volunteer in my first stop noted.
PA-07 is widely seen as one of the purest swing seats in the country. Republican Ryan Mackenzie flipped the seat in 2024 with just over 50% of the vote, ousting Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, who served two terms. It’s a crowded Democratic primary but fundraising reports show all six PA-7 candidates together raised more than $1.5 million in the last quarter, suggesting how vulnerable Democrats believe Mackenzie to be — and how much attention voters there can expect in the coming year.
Perhaps no Pennsylvania race is drawing more national attention than PA-10. Republican Rep. Scott Perry, a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, won re-election in 2024 by just over a point. Cook, Sabato and Inside Elections now rate PA-10 a “toss-up,” with some analysts describing it as one of the most vulnerable GOP seats in the country heading into 2026.
Democrats already have their preferred candidate in Janelle Stelson, the former TV news anchor who ran against Perry last time, is running again. She is expected to be the best-known Democrat in a large primary field, and has already received the endorsement of Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Perry is also facing dissent inside his own party. Last year, a group formed Republicans Against Perry and criticized the incumbent for his extreme right-wing views. That effort may have helped Stelson to come within a point of winning. Now, Perry has primary competition that may weaken him.
Because we had an Election here in November, we did present our Incident Reports to the Justice Department’s Civil Right Division this year. Although we did not anticipate any troubles at the polls in Pennsylvania, we still gave them a summary of voters have told us about prior elections. As reported, they seemed unnecessarily hostile to our collection of Incident Reports.
Regardless, we still have to bring a sledgehammer to the fight. Pennsyl-vania alone can determine who holds the majority in the House — just as it did in 2024.
Hope Springs starts up our Issues Canvass again in March. Our volunteers 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.
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!
We remain a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. But 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!”
No other Democratically-aligned org has been methodically trying to circumvent MAGA efforts to rig the House Midterm elections in 2026. And we need your help to continue. Our printer costs alone are way beyond our budgeting and we are asking for your help (if you are able).
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!