While there was certainly big news up ticket last night, there was also big news down ticket — and the 33rd Middlesex State Rep race did not disappoint.
Steve Ultrino, a true Democrat and a strong progressive, won a decisive victory in the Democratic primary, besting his more conservative DINO opponent, Neil Kinnon, by almost 20 points (Full disclosure: I am Steve’s field director). Not only did we win big, with a margin that far exceeded anyone’s expectations, we came incredibly close — within fewer than 60 votes — of beating Kinnon is his own ward, which he has represented on the City Council for many years.
The 33rd Middlesex is comprised of about 2/3rds of the City of Malden. (For some excellent background on the district, this race, as well as what is to come in the general election campaign where we will face an Independent, see excellent posts by my friend and fellow Malden activist Linda here and here.)
So how was this race won so decisively? The short answer is: organization and ground game.
Since the resignation of John Kerry from his US Senate seat, Malden has in many ways felt like ground zero. First there was the Markey US Senate campaign, then the MA-5 campaign (won by Katherine Clark, who is from Melrose but has a huge base of support in Malden), and then the 5th Middlesex State Senate campaign (won by Jason Lewis, who made Malden a key part of his strategy). All of this intense political activity on our doorstep, as well as the organizing in Malden from the Elizabeth Warren campaign, the Obama campaigns of 2008 and 2012, and the more recent RaiseUp MA campaign, have given Democratic and progressive activists in Malden and surrounding cities/towns the impetus to get organized. We’ve built up relationships and experience — and engaged folks in grassroots campaigning. To be very honest, without the experience of the past few years, we might not have had the capacity to deliver effectively for Steve’s campaign.
In addition to organization, we spent a lot of time and energy on our ground game. We started door knocking and phone banking at the beginning of May and over the course of the next four months we did two complete passes of the entire district. By the time late August rolled around, our volunteers had built up a very healthy number of IDs. Kinnon had a ground game of sorts — but it wasn’t on par with ours from what we could tell. He did, however, have lots of money and institutional support so we certainly didn’t take him lightly at all. We campaigned like we were underdogs, which meant a ton of work — by the candidate himself, key supporters, and volunteers. Steve himself knocked on hundreds and hundreds of doors for months.
One of my favorite stories from yesterday makes plain how vital this work is — and how powerful it can be on Election Day.
As I was knocking doors yesterday to pull voters to the polls, I met an elderly gentleman out washing his car in the driveway. When I asked him if he’d had a chance to get to the polls, he said that he and his wife had both voted — and they voted for Steve. He added that Steve was the first Democrat he and his wife had voted for since…wait for it…John F. Kennedy in 1960. That got my attention, so I asked him to explain why. He told me about the time several weeks before when Steve knocked on his door to ask for his vote and this gentleman was very impressed with Steve as a person. But he also mentioned that he was incredibly impressed with Steve’s campaign — and most specifically how many times we had reached out to him and his wife — he had counted 6 or 7 times. He liked the fact that Steve and his campaign were working really hard, showing we cared about individual voters like him.
Finally, we also benefited from an incredible roster of endorsements — including Congresswoman Katherine Clark (who went out on a limb early and endorsed Steve at his kickoff in May), the entire Legislative delegation representing Malden (State Rep Paul Brodeur, State Rep Paul Donato, and State Senator Jason Lewis), former and current members of the City Council and School Committee (many of whom worked incredibly hard for Steve’s campaign because they’d worked with him on the City Council and they knew firsthand he was the better candidate compared to Kinnon), as well as over a dozen unions and advocacy groups, many of whom came through when we needed them most with support and bodies for our GOTV effort.
Yeah it’s a cliche to say campaigns are team efforts, but it’s a cliche because it’s true. And Steve made that point very well last night during his victory speech: “We all won tonight.”
This is not just about knowledge and experience, though those are important. It’s also about the kind of professionalism that, in spite of the minor frustrations and setbacks that occur in any campaign, makes a person like you willing to jump back into the fray day after day and keep executing. Congratulations on a job well done.
In addition to energizing volunteers, I think we are also energizing voters. The various communications in the papers, the people knocking on your door and calling you, the candidates you can hear speak in debates, etc. have a cumulative impact on your awareness of and engagement with the political realm. I like to think we’re moving the needle, if only a little.
Thanks. Linda, very sweet of you to say 🙂
I hope so re: voters and moving the needle — that would be terrific!
Just took a close look at the Malden results. Our State Rep race had fewer blanks than any other race INCLUDING GOVERNOR. A blank is either a protest vote (I can’t stomach these people) or a “don’t know” vote (I’m not informed enough.) The people who voted for State Rep in the 33rd Middlesex felt informed enough by and large to vote for a candidate in this race, and they felt that there was a difference between them. We might even go so far as to conjecture that for SOME of these people it was that race that brought them to the polls. You/we can surely take some credit for that.
Interesting…hadn’t noticed that yet…My first reaction is this is probably a result of canvassing and phonebanking and other direct voter contact like dear friend cards etc. Direct voter contact by the candidate and volunteers engages and motivates people.
If more people appreciated the outreach rather than exhibited a cranky don’t bother me attitude I’d feel a lot more comfortable canvassing.
Everybody is cranky some of the time, and some people are cranky pretty much all the time. Cranky people have a vote.
But cranky people are fairly immune to canvassing. And they’re not alone. Busy people have no time. People who work multiple jobs, or who work long hours, won’t be home when you come knocking, and you won’t be knocking their doors when they’re home.
The people who are hard to reach by knocking doors may also be hard to reach through phone banks. Young and busy people aren’t going to be home for your phone call; lots of them don’t have a landline anyway.
I’m wondering more and more about electronic canvassing: direct contact with acquaintances (or perhaps people with whom you share a common acquaintance) through email, texting, hyperlocal blogs, or perhaps just sending personal notes. That way, you’d reach people when they want to listen — not when they’re trying to salvage dinner or calm the baby or watch the end of the game. Yet you’d still have the direct contact with someone you know, or at least someone with whom you have something in common.
Sure, some people won’t be accessible this way: they don’t have email, or they’ve just moved here and don’t know anybody. But the inaccessible people are different from the cranky and canvass-resistant.
Is pretty much what I do exclusively since I am IL based at the moment. I emailed or texted five people to come to the polls and vote for (some) of my candidates. I did the same with my parents and brother and sister in law, and some people on facebook and even linkedin. Did that for Coakley/Brown too and it worked dividends (for getting my circle out, not for helping Coakley).
We had several Malden elected officials and super volunteers who spent time on E-Day texting, calling and otherwise reaching out to their circles of family, friends, community members — with predictably really good results from what I heard.
For example, one volunteer reached out to elders in her community (the Arab American community in Malden) and not only reminded them to vote but arranged rides for them — which coming from her they were more trusting and likely to take the opportunity. She actually did this unbeknownst to us until very late yesterday. I’m sure she got us quite a few votes.
Just anecdotally, several of us who canvassed for Steve during GOTV were actually pleasantly surprised how few people were cranky. There were a few but not a ton.
It can be tough to deal with folks like that and not have them demoralize your excitement for the job of canvassing — I’ve struggled with that myself but I feel like I’ve gotten better over time at not letting it get to me as much. It’s important, I think, when training canvassers to prepare them for this prospect and help them have a positive way to disengage from the cranky person without getting demoralized — so they have the energy to move on to the next voter.
Couldn’t agree more on using alternate means to reach folks with unpredictable schedules, etc. Dear friend cards are, in my opinion, an insanely powerful while very low tech tool that should always be deployed — early enough so you can capture the data and then door knock and phone call those folks to try to ID them. But social media is certainly another good way to try to reach this same group of voters. Generally I think an all of the above strategy is a good one, as long as you roll it out strategically and early. Repetition is key for sure.
It’s fine to reach out to your own circles and I know John Walsh encouraged it, but the campaign needs to know this is happening and have a way to capture the data.
I know I’m not especially good at it. I’m slow, introverted, and SO MUCH HAPPIER when I can communicate in writing. (When I speak, incoherent blather comes out of my mouth at least part of the time.) Like a lot of people with a reasonable amount of smarts and skills, I hate doing things I’m not good at, so I avoid them. So I’m not the most enthusiastic about canvassing or phone banking either.
But I actually really LIKE canvassing and calling on election day because the ask is SO easy and while I always believe in my candidate, I believe even more in voting. “Hi. I’m a volunteer with X. I’m reminding voters in Malden that today is primary day. Have you had a chance get out and vote today?” Some people really like being reminded that it’s election day. Some people are grateful for your work. Some are cranky. Some don’t want anyone to call them ever again. Some are too ill to go. But some say “yes, I’m going now” or “when my brother gets home” or whatever. And the ones that make it all worth it? The ones that say, “oh my gosh it’s Tuesday–thank you so much for reminding me.”
The old theory of canvassing and calling was that people would contact the folks they knew in their local area, who would be receptive to a message coming from a neighbor or friend or acquaintance. That still works great for some. But I live in an urban area where, though we’ve lived in the same house for 25 years, we don’t really know anyone. With the new canvassing, you’re talking to strangers, which is harder for most of us. I try to remind myself that I am doing something to help them, even if they may not appreciate it at that very moment.
In this country, too many people have internalized the notion that political involvement is a hobby — like birding or kayaking or chess–something you do because you are into it and other people aren’t necessarily. Because we’re all steeped in that culture, it’s easy to think that canvassing is an imposition akin to asking someone to stop everything they’re doing and look at your butterfly collection or talk to you about baseball or your new computer game. But what you’re doing (implicitly or explicitly) is telling them that it’s important to care (some may not like that) and you are also giving them some valuable information that will help them make an important decision.
I try to find things I can do for my candidates that are better suited to my skills, like crafting campaign messages or writing a letter to the editor or helping with campaign literature. I put a sign in my yard or window or hold a sign on a street corner, because that can’t be screwed up. But when it comes down to GOTV, I do at least some knocking on doors and making calls, because those few additional votes could really matter, and I’m sure telling someone to vote is a reasonable thing to do, whether I’m the most polished at it or not.