Weather makes a big difference. Even as some volunteers have been eager to get started this year, especially in light of the assault on American democracy by the Trump-Musk administration, this doesn’t mean everyone wants to knock on doors in the 60s. On March 1st, 37 Hope Springs from Field PAC [website which needs to be re-tooled] volunteers came out to knock on doors in southern Georgia. On the 8th, 107 came out. Last Saturday, with weather in the 70s, 231 volunteers showed up! Yeah, weather makes a difference.
Clik here to view.
This cycle, everything is about re-electing Jon Ossoff. Ossoff is widely considered the most endangered Senate Democratic incumbent in 2026. “Top Senate Republicans are kicking off a lobbying campaign to convince popular two-term GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to mount a challenge to Ossoff.” Even if “there’s skepticism that President Donald Trump’s winning 2024 coalition will turn out in similar numbers in a midterm year,” Kemp has the best GOTV org in the state. Not just on the Republican side, in the state.
That winning coalition truly was a combination of Kemp’s traditional GOP organization and the MAGA orgs in the state. Kemp is unlikely to announce his decision (many believe he will forego a senate run to concentrate on running for president in 2028) before the state legislative session adjourns on April 4. Partisan polling in Georgia has shown Kemp topping Ossoff in a hypothetical matchup.
Of course, just because Kemp is polling well against Ossoff doesn’t mean he will run. Kemp is considered interested in running for president in 2028 and that ambition may interfere in doing so. We can’t predict what Kemp will do here, or even if Thune will have the same power of persuasion that Mitch McConnell did in getting Republicans to run for Senate.
But the NRSC is confident of flipping the seat in Georgia even if Kemp decides to take a pass on a 2026 run.
Among the Republicans who've expressed interest in a run for the Senate seat in Georgia if Kemp opts out are Reps. Buddy Carter, Rich McCormick, Mike Collins, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, along with state Insurance Commissioner John King.
Regardless, Ossoff is doing what needs to be done to make this a strong race. And Hope Springs will be running our Constituent Service Requests through Ossoff’s office almost exclusively, to give him the broadest contacts with Georgia’s voters as possible. He already runs a formidable Constituent office for a Senator.
Clik here to view.
We think our Issues Survey approach with Constituent Service Request forms will help Ossoff here. Not just that, but our Georgia volunteers are confident in their own (ultimate) GOTV practices from their consistent voter contact since 2000, and we are staying more loyal to the areas (turf) we take on this cycle. Our goal is to go through both first and second rounds this year, making sure we can do that before taking on new areas to canvass, going for quality voter contact over quantity. This is made possible because we have volunteers ready to step up in the canvassing part.
But there is more here. Volunteers from Georgia have travelled to Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania to help Hope Springs GOTV efforts there. In Florida and North Carolina, African-American volunteers from Georgia have worked with Black Churches in those states registering voters and helping them plan and implement Voter Protection plans. There’s a wealth of experience and leadership here, grassroots-driven, especially among our HBCU volunteers. Don’t underestimate their ability to be decisive in this tough election.
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/hopemobilization
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.
Last Saturday, 231 volunteers knocked on 16,793 doors. They talked to 1,326 voters and had in-depth conversations with 853 of them, respectively, guided by our Issues Questionnaire.
We’ve added one thing to our questionnaire: we are asking voters whether they approve of the administration’s cuts to federal programs and agencies. Given that we are talking to more unaffiliated voters this year, we are offering that as a way to screen MAGA-leaning voters that we talk to.
Other than that, the Issues Surveys aren’t really changing. We may modify it again, if necessary. Voters like to tell us what is important to them!
On March 15th, Jobs was was the Number 1 issue for the voters we talked to. Prices was second and Economic Stability or Certainty was third last Saturday.
As i mentioned above, we are asking voters if they approve of the sudden and deep cuts in federal programs and agencies led by Elon Musk. 5% of the voters we talked to said they viewed these cuts in a favorable light on Saturday. 41% thought just the opposite. Only 9% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing (38% disapproved). We won’t know for awhile (given the newness of the question) whether these two questions are correlated.
41% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Sen. Ossoff was doing while 4% expressed Disapproval. 37% approved of what Gov. Kemp was doing while 31% disapproved.
Clik here to view.
Hope Springs volunteers registered 21 new voters on Saturday — 17 of which were African-American. We re-registered 14 voters, who mainly updated their addresses.
In Georgia, 85 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms on Saturday. As i mentioned above, we are giving Sen. Ossoff’s office “first crack” at completed CSRs. 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.
Clik here to view.
7 voters filled out Incident Reports on Saturday. 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.
We knocked 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.
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. We printed more than 1,400,000 pieces of Walk Lit last year for Georgia. 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.
Several of our volunteers were eager to resume post-canvassing voter contact in between Saturdays. We are holding off on that for now, as it is early in the cycle, but it is interesting that it came up. But, for one thing, there are so many scams going around right now that it is important that voters have some additional context (besides leaving lit at their door!) for taking phone calls about the 2026 election.
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.
But here’s the reality: Identifying Single Issue Voters and Constitutional Amendment supporters and doing GOTV (Get-Out-the-Vote) costs us more money than our regular canvassing because this issue drives volunteer turnout higher and higher. Which means we have to buy more lit to distribute and other minor expenses (like water for volunteers).
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.
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/hopemobilization
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!