And then there were two. In the prior weekend, Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] volunteers canvassed in four states, but falling turnout meant that in only two states did a volunteer-driven consensus (with substantial input from our organizers) exist for knocking on doors on Saturday. Some say there are holidays approaching — and, quite frankly, weekend driving confirmed that. But Arizona volunteers had a reason for holding out — we lost a lot of Saturdays due to weather (sometimes it was because of rain!).
2026 Consensus House map
We are knocking on doors in Arizona because there are 3 congressional districts where we think we can replace a MAGA Republican incumbent and take back the House. Especially in this emerging electoral environment! Isn’t it something to think the outcome in just one state might be enough? Upside down land.
Even if the Senate is out of reach (still debatable), Democrats only need a majority in one house of Congress to put a stop to president felon’s egregious policies. And that has been driving volunteer turnout in this election cycle.
But those weather-related breaks have been a thorn in some of our volunteers. Perhaps it’s that hangover from the 2024 outcome. “If only” has been on a lot of people’s minds.
And part of it comes from volunteers trying to understand how to crack AZ-02. David Schweikert was always vulnerable in his Congressional seat — and AZ-06 has gone back and forth. But AZ-02 has unique elements that are challenging.
The district includes 12 Indian reservations that don’t necessarily conform to traditional canvassing customs. I’m a big believer in notifying the local law enforcement when canvassing in areas that might have never seen Democrats knocking on doors in their area — and just navigating this has been interesting, to say the least.
But this is the aspect to AZ-02 that has proven most vexxing to organizers and volunteers alike. We want to create the same kinds of partnerships in these communities as we’ve done in Georgia and the southern states. But it has been a slow dance so far.
And despite the area mass of the district, most of the Democrats and unaffiliated voters are grouped in the West Valley — and a lot of those voters aren’t used to this kind of voter contact from our side. We heard a lot of “I’m the only (Democrat/Liberal/ progressive) in my neighborhood.” And, perhaps the most interesting thing about this form of voter contact in Arizona (iow, voter contact aimed at voters and not built around candidates) is that volunteers felt like a lot of eyes were on them as they visited the next house — in a positive way, not a threatening one.
And, yet, we persist.
288 Hope Springs volunteers came out on Saturday in the 1st, 2nd and 6th CDs to knock on 21,225 doors. We talked to 1,719 voters and had in-depth conversations with 1,100 of them, guided by our Issues Question-naire.
The #1 Issue in Arizona on Saturday was High Prices and Affordability. Several voters questioned Walmart’s claim that their Thanksgiving Dinner cost less this year — and one voter wondered how much pressure presi-dent felon put on them to make “such a ridiculous claim.” Concern over threats to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and to Rural Hospitals were second and what we continue to call Housing Concerns (Housing Availability, Affordability, Housing Insurance Costs and increasing Electricity Costs) was third.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again on March 1st. We target 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’ve been asking voters if they approve of the deep cuts in federal programs and agencies. 1% of the Arizona voters who responded said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light, 12% thought just the opposite. 8% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing. Important to remember that we are knocking on more doors of unaffiliated voters than Democrats in these GOP-held districts. 42% of the voters we talked to this week disapproved.
Given our emphasis on taking back the House, we are asking about voter views of their Members of Congress, not Senators, in Arizona (there is no race for the Senate this year). We aren’t differentiating between Members and Districts in these reports; 3% of voters expressed approval of the job their Member was doing on Saturday and 48% said they disapproved. 50% said they approved of the job Gov. Hobbs was doing; 4% said they disapproved.
Hope Springs volunteers re-registered 7 voters, who mainly updated their addresses (or updated their voter registration to participate in the Active Early Voting List — the latter usually tends to skew the number higher).
In Arizona, 45 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. 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.
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. It’s also a great way for new volunteers to get comfortable knocking on doors.
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!
