Door-knocking for Dems — NYers continue to reach out in PA

Busloads of New York Democrats representing a wide swath of organizations have carried on with their weekly trips to canvass for the Harris-Walz campaign in the swing state of Pennsylvania. This past Saturday, Brooklyn Dems and 1199 SEIU members ventured to Stroudsburg.

“We’re getting on a bus to Pennsylvania to bring out support for Kamala Harris,” said Anthony Beckford, district leader for the 43rd Assembly. “This right here is an opportunity for us to be engaged — for the community to be engaged. I brought my 12-year-old daughter out here, so that way, she can experience this moment in history as well. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to.”

Dozens gathered in front of St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn in the early morning of Oct. 19. They filed into two luxury coach buses with their matching navy T-shirts, provided by the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Participants, from high schoolers all the way to retirees, tucked in for the long journey into what has been dubbed for years as “Trump country” or areas that are heavily Republican.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, are marginally ahead of former President Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in terms of polling: At presstime, she led 46% to 43%, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll. For context, the poll surveyed 4,129 adults online: one-third registered Democrats, one-third Republican, and the remainder independent voters.

Polling should be taken with a grain of salt, but it does serve to highlight how close this presidential election is. Every vote in swing states, like Pennsylvania, matters for the popular vote but also toward the Electoral College vote — or the state system for voting in presidential elections that’s based on their number of Congress members. To be president, a candidate needs 270 electoral college votes. Trump won in PA by less than 1% in 2016, but lost by almost the same percentage in 2020, reported NBC News.

That’s why, with about two weeks until Election Day, dedicated Harris supporters in New York City are spending their weekends traveling more than 70 miles away to knock on doors and possibly sway even a handful of people to vote for their candidate.

“I decided to do this because I’m normally civically engaged, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to contribute to one of the greatest candidates I could ever imagine,” said Leo Terry, a senior manager for a real estate firm. Like many others on the bus, it was Terry’s first time canvassing for a political group.

Sweet Sundays Cafe, a local Haitian-owned eatery, provided the bus group with breakfast, drinks, and snacks. After a late start, the group headed off to the mountainous area of Stroudsburg, a small town in the Poconos about two hours away from New York City. They met up with 1199 SEIU canvassers at the Days Inn drop-off point.

Ariama C. Long photos

Stroudsburg was the absolute picture-postcard of a warm Autumn day, with crisp foliage on the mountainside and fluttering leaves, from green to bright-red, falling off the high trees. The terrain did end up being a major hurdle throughout the day, though, with transportation for canvassers sparse.

To make sure that Dems weren’t wandering for miles through the woods, the ground campaign used the MiniVAN app, which allowed canvassers to find registered voters’ addresses on public lists using their phones and target certain neighborhoods in Stroudsburg with undecided or independent registered voters. The canvassers split into small groups, and received maps, lists, scripts, and questionnaires for their door-knocking walks in the community.

Brooklyn retirees Barbara Savage and Carol Singleton, lifelong friends in their 70s, were dropped off in the neighborhood of Tannersville. The small area is primarily known for its waterpark and ski resorts. They eyed elaborate Halloween decorations and Trump signs in people’s yards wearily and pressed on, determined.

“We do this all the time. Every election season,” said Savage, who has door-knocked for Democrats before. “I did the Obama [campaign] and I think there was more energy and enthusiasm, but we did also come to Pennsylvania to Trump territory, smack in the middle. But it was great, we had a wonderful time. Very productive, and people were friendly.”

Many people did not answer their doors for Savage and Singleton or politely refused to engage. But surprisingly, one Tannersville resident, 69, with Trump signs in her yard, was eager to discuss Harris’ stances on issues like Medicare, marriage, abortion, pension, and Social Security.

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* This article was originally published here