by Cindy
I hear Labor Day–September 2nd this year–is the official start of the campaign season. Well, I’d already been knocking doors for weeks by then, and apparently so was the Take The Majority team. They knocked a quarter million doors in August alone, to be precise! That is a MASSIVE undertaking! And it’s the reason Democrats are going to take over the House and the Senate on November 5th.
Take The Majority (TTM) is a coordinated field effort, jointly funded by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC, the arm of the national Democratic Party that works to elect Democratic state legislatures), the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA), the Virginia House Caucus, the Virginia Senate Caucus, and The Way Ahead (Governor Northam’s fundraising PAC). With $2.4 million in combined funding from these partners and other donors, this is the largest Democratic legislative coordinated campaign in Virginia history.
And they are aiming high. Not just conservatively taking a role in the top three or four races considered most “winnable,” TTM is running field operations in FORTY-ONE legislative races across Virginia, 10 in the Senate and 31 in the House. Additionally, in most areas, they’ve coordinated with down-ballot local races to ensure streamlined, efficient canvassing, without different campaigns repeatedly knocking the same doors. For many areas, they’ve even gone so far as to print combined down-ballot walk cards for canvassers to carry.
The map is divided up into 13 “pods”–regions with overlapping House and Senate races. Each pod has a pod director.
- West Greater Richmond, Elias Romanos
- Henrico and Hanover, Ilana Beller
- Loudoun, Aaron Palmer
- Prince William, Justin Baker
- Peninsula, Mel Pruett
- Southwest Virginia, Ciara Maxwell
- Virginia Beach and Suffolk, Abigail Hays
- East Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, Erin Corbett
- Chesterfield, Max Jenkins
- Central Virginia, Austin Hall
- NOVA, Zak Sabin
- Eastern Loudoun, Temi Amoye
- Norfolk and Eastern Shore, Sara Hayet
TTM has completely taken the worries of field operations off the minds of campaigns, both the expenses and the organizing. There are 2-4 paid field organizers for each House race, and 5 or more for each Senate race. Those organizers are responsible for not only knocking doors themselves, but recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers to knock doors.
What can YOU do to help? Glad you asked! Make sure the pod director in your area has your name and contact information. Each pod has its own Facebook page, so be sure to join that (links above). Sign up to canvass or phone bank, show up for an event, bring some snacks and water to a canvass launch, and share events and information about candidates on your own social media.
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