Life is better when you're doing something to change it!
Come gather with like-minded people, enjoy some refreshments, and hear about what ordinary (and extraordinary) folks are doing to fight back against the stupid and crazy-making.
I had to do something. I heard a bunch of people I knew were organizing with Swing Left to canvass in our nearest swing district, CA-10 in the San Joaquin Valley (Modesto and environs), where local Dem. Josh Harder is challenging incumbent Repub. Jeff Denham. I took the plunge and signed on.
I’ve canvassed before, but it’s been a long time, I’m a city girl, and I had a lot of trepidation about driving to the small towns of the Central Valley to canvass for Democrats. An introvert, tongue-tied in front of strangers, terrible at thinking on my feet and frankly without much to say to Republicans, I'm old and white and my Spanish is practically non-existent. I was sure I'd be viewed as an outsider and interloper, and no one would want to talk to me.
My fears turned out to be groundless. What's more, talking to the registered Dems and Declined-to-States in my assigned neighborhoods proved energizing. So many people there have been eager to talk to a Democrat and pledge their vote to the Democratic candidate. Many of them thought they were the only Dems around, and we could tell them their street had lots more!
Making the trip with friends made it easier. We met up with the Swing Left folks and other volunteers in a local park, got a handy app on our cell phones with street maps, names and house numbers of our assigned neighborhoods, and went out in pairs after a brief training.
We've been able to sign up several local volunteers and get a bunch of new voters registered too. We'll be in District 10 again next month and doing GOTV on election weekend.
The big goal is to get Josh Harder's name out there, on people’s minds and lips. If people are hostile or say they're Trump supporters, we just thank them and move on quickly.
You don't need me to tell you the importance of the Nov. 6th midterm elections. Now in the final weeks, we need canvassers, people to write postcards, make phone calls and text voters, whatever floats your boat!
Warning: We will ask you to commit to do something positive, before the mid-term elections, to "Make America Human Again."*
*I can’t take credit for this slogan, but if you come to the party, you can get a button made by my friends Myra and Charlie.
Sunday September 23, 2018 2:00 PM
Hosts: kimoconnor and dsb