Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] came to California to help mobilize Democrats and independents for Prop50 last Fall. We took responsibility for the areas that would become CA-01, CA-02, CA-03 and CA-04.
Our plans were not to continue to midterms, but, like all campaigns, you build relationships with our volunteers and the community. Now, going into this Fall’s GOTV, CA-02 and CA-03 are being turned over to the campaigns of their Democratic nominees. (We’d already stopped canvassing in the district where two Dems will compete for the seat in November (a unique quirk in California’s jungle primary) — CA-04.)
Which left the eastern side of CA-01, which is rural here than most of the other places we’ve been knocking on doors. The Democratic nominee here is state senator Mike McGuire, who serves a western portion of the district (Hope Springs from Field volunteers have been canvassing the eastern side, in Butte, Lassen, Plumas and Sierra counties.) McGuire’s senate district stretches along the North Coast from San Francisco Bay to the Oregon border. CA-01, as you can see from the map, does not.
Mike McGuire was first elected to the California State Senate in 2014. He became the Majority Leader in 2022, and was elected as Senate president pro tempore on February 5, 2024. McGuire’s election was the first time a senator from California’s northern coast was chosen to lead the senate since 1866. Incumbent James Gallagher (R) was elected to represent the old congressional district in June, filling the vacancy left by Doug LaMalfa (R), who died on January 6, 2026.
This would be Gallagher’s first re-election, under new lines where 850 votes separated Gallagher and McGuire in the primary. Hope Springs has been canvassing, and has now proceeded to GOTV rounds, in the areas where the newbie incumbent is better known than McGuire — iow, the Red counties.
On Saturday, 88 Hope Springs volunteers came out to canvass on Saturday; they knocked on 7,035 doors. Volunteers talked to 549 voters and had in-depth conversations with 351 of them, respectively, guided by our Issues Questionnaire.
The biggest issue voters cared about was the Price of Fuel. The Economy was second. Rising Price Concerns was third.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again in March. 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.
You will see that we use a modified Issues Survey in this Third Round (soft persuasion). It eases Hope Springs volunteers into the persuasion Rounds ahead. This is especially needed given the dearth of Democratic Voter Contact is this area.
Other than that, the Issues Surveys haven’t really changed. Voters like to tell us what is important to them!
1% of the voters we talked to had a favorable impression of the job Trump was doing, while 66% disapproved. For this canvass, we knocked on more unaffiliated than Democratic doors, about 75/24, depending on the walk list.
1% of the voters who responded Approved of the job their Republican incumbent Member of Congress (James Gallagher) was doing while 60% expressed Disapproval. “What are they doing anyway” was a memorable comment by a previous voter we talked to. 51% approved of what Gov. Newsom was doing, 5% disapproved.
Hope Springs Volunteers re-registered 2 new voter, typically correcting their address for the voter file.
27 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms this year. 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 the doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey and the CSR forms. 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 almost 500,000 pieces of Walk Lit last year for Nevada. 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.
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees (yet) 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 in 2026. And we need your help to continue. More and more candidates and Democratic orgs are reaching out for our help.
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