All I Do Is Win: How Democrats Win The Midterms: Work.

“Cause I never been defeated and I won’t stop now
Keep your hands up get ’em in the sky for the homies
That didn’t make it and the folks locked down” — All I Do Is Win By DJ Khaled verse by Ludacris

Allow me to provide you with some of my background. In 2020 I was the only Arizona Democrat that was an elected Biden delegate to the Democratic National Committee Convention (the one year I get to go, it is held virtually!), who served in leadership in the Maricopa County Party, and was also on the Board of the Arizona Democratic Party (the Chair and I were the Democrats who ran unopposed that cycle).

I accomplished all of my missions from flipping a red seat to a blue seat in our house legislature to turning out 100,000 extra black voters that no one saw coming. We flipped the state for Biden and elected Mark Kelly to the United States Senate. I accomplished the missions that I was tasked with, and this cycle I took zero leadership positions because I had earned a rest. At least that is what I foolishly believed, but MAGA and fascism never rests. That oppressive forces try to win through attrition. So, I put my canvassing shoes back on and hit the streets, because these world needs to be worthy of my daughter, your children, and your grandchildren.

If Democrats are going to hold serve in the Senate and in the House, we need to do these five things.

1. We Need To Canvass.

There is nothing more persuasive than when you go and talk to someone in your community about becoming a voter and supporting your candidate. The research is clear: knocking doors gets the best results. When we meet the people in our community and share our values, we win. For those who never canvassed before let me explain how it works. The campaign creates a list of doors, based on factors that the campaign desires, and then uploads them into the VAN. The VAN is the voter file that has additional information to let you know how likely they are to vote for Democrats. You get this list sent to you on your smart phone. So when you go knock the door, you have an idea about the person’s name, age, what elections they voted in, their Dem score, and other pertinent information. The VAN also has a script that you can follow or you can allow the conversation to go where it needs to go.

I have personally knocked about 6,000 doors. I will not lie to you, it can be harrowing knocking doors. I tell new candidates that if they have not wanted to fight someone or cry while knocking doors, you have not knocked on enough doors. I still remember the stories and the faces of the people have left the biggest mark on me.

If you canvass you are the frontlines of democracy. Nothing will make a bigger impact on the 2022 midterms, then you knocking doors. In Arizona we like to say: door by door, block by block, that is how we win.

“Can’t never count me out
Y’all better count me in” — All I Do Is Win By DJ Khaled verse by Ludacris

2. We Need To Phone-bank.

We all have different abilities and canvassing is not always accessible to our family in this fight for our democracy. Sometimes, there is not enough time to canvass and we have to get on the phones. Talking to voters via the phones is the second best way to turn voters out, after having conversations at voters doors.

You will get hung-up on. You will get cursed out phone-banking, the phone-bank lists are not always accurate, but when you make a connection you will shape the future of our nation. I once called a father and he had recently been granted his American citizenship. I was the first candidate to ever call him. This father, looked up my campaign headquarters got his two adult sons and drove them down to my office, and my team registered them to vote 45 minutes after our phone call. That is the importance of phone-banking.

The father and his two sons he came to my campaign office after he spoke with me on the phone to register his two sons to vote. This is the power of direct voter contact.

3. We Have To Contribute Money.

I had my best-friend from high school phone-bank for me, and just like my father, they lasted about 20 dials before they just cut me a check to hire someone to phone-bank in their absence. That is what money does, it allows campaigns, parties, and outside groups be able to hire people to do voter contact.

No one likes to give money, no one. However, giving a candidate, preferably in your state, means so much to how institutional donors view them. Having lots of small-dollar donors means that person is going to be supported by the community if they make it to the general. It also allows organizations to hire more staff to reach more voters. Money also pays for all those wonderful campaign ads that flood our airwaves. Giving $10.00 might not seem like a lot, but if you afford that, and hopefully more, it will be a huge boon to a political organization.

4. We Need To Talk To Our Loved Ones.

I have a rule, if you don’t know who your state representative is, then I don’t want to talk to you about Biden or Trump. I have found people have strong emotions about the top of the ticket, but have little to no resistance to people on the down ballot races. Start with talking to them about school boards or state reps. Fox and Newsmax are not using their platforms to cast specific and individual lies about the people who are running for these races. Use that to your advantage. Talk to your loved ones about those candidates and why they are better than their GOP opponent.

No one is going to be able to reach their loved ones like you can, that is why you must try.

Photo by Keith Luke on Unsplash

5. We Must Talk About This Election In Terms Of Hope and Opportunity.

Trump scares the hell out of me, but when I am faced with this threat I fight, I don’t shut down and I don’t flee. However a lot of the voters we need to come out, do shut down and decide not to become voters. Messages of fear do not work with the Democratic base, but messages of hope and opportunity do. When we use messaging like hope and opportunity it empowers our voters to vote for a future worthy of their children and grandchildren.

The GOP base is motivated by hate and fear, our voters do not respond to those messages, we do because we are the tip of the spear. We need to explain to our base why being a voter is so important and why our candidate is better than the other side. It is not enough to say why the GOP is awful, we must explain why they are awful and how our candidate is better than their opponent.

We can win in 2022, but it requires work. Are you willing to give it what you can for these last 50 days? I am.