Tools For Success
Hello, strangers!
It's your friendly neighborhood campaign organizer here to let you in on a little secret.
Come closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Whoa, waaay too close!
But in all seriousness, I am here today to share with you some inside information. To be honest, it's not even that inside. But it's important to know that as we stand here with exactly 4 weeks to go until the most important midterm election in our lifetimes that everyone, both on this blog and in the greater community, is aware of the options out there to help make a difference and fend off fascism for the next 2 years. Because as we all know, Republicans are hellbent on attaining power and the only thing that is currently keeping them at bay is our free and fair elections. It's truly up to us to defend our republic against our domestic enemies that hide their authoritarian instincts (on both the right and the left) in order to mission creep American into a full-on dictatorship with their chosen messiah at the helm.
Fortunately, we have the tools at our disposal to make a difference, both out in the field and from the comforts of our own home. While elections were already headed this way, 2020 proved that we can organize in nontraditional ways and make campaigns accessible for those motivated enough to want to make a difference by going outside their comfort zones. While it goes against our nature to talk to strangers about politics (taboo, taboo they say!) it still is the best scientifically proven way to impact and educate someone about an issue or a candidate. Human beings are social creatures and we need time to process what others are saying. While response rates typically rarely get beyond 10%, what responses we do get are folks genuinely interested in what we have to say. We may not win over every single voter we talk to at the doors or on the phones but each conversation helps plant a seed that was not there prior to our interaction. Think of it like the movie Inception only instead of planting an idea subconsciously we do it consciously and strategically. And, best of all, we do it in a way that allows for maximum participation.
Because long gone are the days where you had to show up at a canvass or an in-person phone make to make a difference. Sure, those still exist and are great for camaraderie but the truth of the matter is that we now have ways for people to get involved on their own time. With a mobile phone app, you now can connect a preset canvass list to your phone's GPS and go out at a time and in a neighborhood that is convenient for you. With a virtual phone bank, you can have access to a list of people and call them at a time that makes the most sense for you and your family. With text messaging, we can now send batches of 1,000 texts automatically and we can respond throughout the day as messages come back to us. Long gone are the days of burner phones and paper canvass packets. This is a new age of organizing and accessibility is all the rage in 2022.
So join us these last four weeks. Find a local race that is competitive and canvass for that candidate. Find a virtual phone bank for Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire or Rev. Raphael Warnock in Georgia or Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin. Find text banking options that are offered from campaigns like Beto O'Rourke in Texas. And donate. Make it a recurring donation to 3-4 key candidates this cycle. It doesn't have to be much but campaigns will be making strategic ad buys and staffing decisions based on money they know is coming in this last month. By setting up a weekly donation, you are setting up these candidates for success, especially those in neck-and-neck races. Your humble donation could be the one that sets the Democratic candidate on the path to victory and all it takes is a few dollars a week.
We know what is at stake in 4 weeks. So do our opponents. Let's leave it all out on the field and let's give it everything we have from now through Election Day. Because a Republican House or Senate or a Republican governor or a Republican state legislature will not have our best interests at heart. Only Democrats will. We'd be fools not to do everything in our power to elect them.
And we'd be fools not to take advantage of these opportunities that modern campaigns has set us up for on the path to success.