A Note From David Domke 7/19
In February 2007, I went to Springfield IL to see the launch of a campaign for the US presidency by Senator Barack Obama. The thermometer outside was at zero but the sun was bright. With his wife and daughters, Obama stepped onto the stage set up outside the Old State Capitol building, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech in 1858.
Canvassing in Kentucky, October 2023
Standing there with thousands, it felt like the dawn of a new era. A New American chapter. And indeed it was, but a chapter that has been far more painful than expected.
That day launched AND unleashed both the best and the worst of the United States. Obama became our first African American president, the kind of small-d democratic mountaintop for which Common Power today fights every day. Obama’s ascendancy, however, was a trumpet call for anti-democracy forces – particularly ones imbued with racism and xenophobia – to rise up. Today, the MAGA Movement headed by Donald Trump is opposed to freedoms and democracy on all fronts: reproductive freedom, the freedom to vote, racial justice, immigration opportunity, LGBTQ+ identities and safety, health care for all, and the struggle to save the planet. When Trump lost in 2020, he led an insurrection. And yet last night, the Republican Party nominated Trump as their presidential nominee for 2024.
In 2007, imagine if some supernatural entity tapped each of us on a shoulder and offered this deal: “If you want Obama for president for 8 years, you will get Trump as president for at least 4 years but you, the people, will get a chance to work to stop Trump from winning a second 4 years.”
That’s exactly the deal that we have right here, right now.
American history makes clear that a progressive advance like Obama’s presidency would be met by the kind of cultural backlash that Dr. Carol Anderson of Emory University has called “white rage.”
We are now, in July 2024, engaged in an unguaranteed, brutally uphill climb to win the Presidency, hold the US Senate, and win the US House. If we do these, the Democrats will start 2025 by passing laws to guarantee reproductive and voting freedoms. We have a chance to sustain this imperfect experiment in American democracy, and it’s our time to work. Please devote as much of your time, by doing voter fieldwork, and treasure, by donating to support our work and our volunteers, as you possibly can. It’s our time and our turn to step up.
— David Domke, Associate Director, Org Development
Volunteer Voices: Chloe Hall
Working with large groups of people who are two to four times your age can be intimidating as a young volunteer. My first trip with Common Power was in the spring of 2024 when we traveled to Pennsylvania. I was one of the youngest if not the youngest on this trip which led me to have reservations about how I would spend my days with people outside of my normal circle. The Gen X volunteers made a point to appreciate my perspective and I enjoyed my time with them, I felt like an equal to them on the ground which was very important to me.
As one would assume, Pennsylvania is what I based my expectations for the trip to Nevada that I led with Alejandra Jimenez and Jeffery White. At this point, I had already agreed to step in as co-lead so there was no backing out, but I had little reservations and was actually very excited to take on this leadership role. My excitement continued to grow as I realized we had a healthy mix of age ranges joining our team and Alejandra, my fellow Team Lead was also my age. This eliminated some of the reservations I had about being a young leader of so many people (we had 50 people on the ground at our peak making this team the largest in 2024 yet). Common Power provided us with a strong support system and I felt confident in them walking onto the ground in Nevada.
I was given the opportunity to test this support system when my Lyft from the airport to the hotel went haywire. At this point it was roughly 1 am my time, I had not slept, I had not eaten, and emotions were flowing. I called my Co-Lead, Jeffery White, who immediately put me on the phone with a fieldwork staff member and in no time I was on the way to our hotel with a meal waiting for me. This was a breath of fresh air and allowed me to relax my nerves and prepare for kick-off the next morning. I suppose it is actions like this that had me applying to lead a team. Along with this, while I have received a lot of care from CP, I have received unmeasurable amounts of knowledge.
From virtual and on-the-ground training, to leadership opportunities, and even simple conversations, Common Power has provided me with many avenues to test the boundaries of my uncomfortableness to grow and learn. It really is the people that make you keep coming back.
We put in a lot of preparation to make this a successful canvassing trip. Both on the ground and in person my co-leads and I played upon one another's strengths to evenly distribute work loads. For example, Alejandra did a lot on the back end of things, i.e. emailing people, finding hotels, conducting mini-van trainings, etc. Jeff worked with our on-the-ground partners to ensure we would have literature, turfs, and other pieces for success. I worked a lot with the organization on the ground ensuring car groups were well diversified, communicating with our volunteers, and overall working face-to-face with the volunteers and the CP team. The distributing of these tasks really helped us all not become overwhelmed or disinterested in our work. We also focused on mutual collaborations which I believe was a large part of the success of our team.
I have been able to grow as a leader with this opportunity from Common Power. I was introduced to new strengths and weaknesses while being pushed to work beyond those limitations in a healthy manner. I have learned ways to effectively communicate my desires to large groups of people and in intimate gatherings. I was introduced to philosophies such as deep listening and was made aware of my implicit biases through trainings which helped me create a more welcoming and appreciative space for our volunteers.
Overall, CP has really nurtured me into becoming the type of leader I want to be, taught me how to create fair and just spaces for every person, and how to rely on community.
I am eager to continue exploring these avenues with Common Power and am excited to get into the work of this election year!
Volunteer Voices: Giovi Hermansyah
As someone who had little canvassing experience before the Nevada trip, nervousness and anxiety were just two of many emotions that ran through my body.
My only previous experience was at the Kent International Festival a week prior, collecting signatures for city council redistricting. As we landed in Las Vegas, I was excited to explore a new city and engage in something I'd never done before. On our first day of canvassing, the nervousness began to set in. Throughout the trip, it was consistently hot with the sun out. The first day was exceptionally sweltering, forcing us to be driven from house to house. I had a great first team that made me feel accommodated and only pushed me to do what I was comfortable with. There were times when I was going to take the lead and talk to the resident, but every time that happened, no one was home; just my luck. It was unusual, as few people were home that first day. Our team may have had ten real encounters; the rest were Ring doorbells. The ring doorbells were consistent. Throughout the trip, I became more comfortable knocking on doors and talking to residents.
I took what I learned from the Action Academy retreat and how being put in uncomfortable situations makes you grow as a person. Knocking on someone's door and being in their own space epitomizes uncomfortableness.
Putting that aside, the trip itself was a fun experience, especially in a city such as Las Vegas. But the cause and the people working beside me made the trip memorable. Not every day can you meet 40 new people congregating from across the United States for a common cause. Before Common Power and Action Academy, I never thought I would do this work, not even in my wildest dreams. No organization like Common Power can mobilize people from different backgrounds and ages to do this work. This being my first fieldwork and canvassing trip was one of the challenges I faced. I didn't know what to expect other than what people told me. How do residents react to you knocking on their doors? What is expected of you while canvassing? These were just a few questions that lingered at the back of my mind.
I advise any younger people interested in fieldwork to try it. Be put in that uncomfortable situation and experience new things because you'll never know if you will enjoy it.
Volunteer Voices: Shy Burgos
A Bronx Teacher's Hot Take on Canvassing in Nevada
Who knew a history teacher from the Bronx would end up canvassing in the Nevada desert? But that's exactly what I did with Common Power (CP), and let me tell you, it was an experience!
🔥Heatwave Heroes: Canvassing in 103°F is no joke, but CP had our backs with water, fans, shade – the whole shebang. They made sure we volunteers felt supported every step of the way.
🗣️Real Talk: Talking to people on their doorsteps was eye-opening. Hearing how policies directly affect veterans, the local workforce, and education gave me a new perspective as a teacher.
🤝Candidate Connection: Getting face time with the candidates was a major plus. Hearing their platforms firsthand made me feel more informed and engaged.
✊Community Power: But it's not just about politics for CP. They're all about building community. The way they treat their team, volunteers, and the communities they work in is truly inspiring.
🏫A History Lesson in Action: Their grassroots approach reminded me of the civil rights movement. It's about listening to the community and working together for change.
💪 Challenge Accepted: Overall, my Nevada adventure was a hot, challenging, and incredibly rewarding experience. It reminded me that real change starts at the grassroots level, with people coming together.
If you're looking for a way to make a difference, I highly recommend checking out Common Power. It's a chance to beat the heat, connect with your community, and learn a thing or two along the way.
Signed Burgos, a Bronx Highschool teacher.
Volunteer Voices: Taryn Coe
I was inspired to get involved with Common Power during the run-up to the 2020 election. I am a career public school educator and I was very concerned about the state of democracy in our country, especially with all of the problems my generation was leaving for the next generation. I wanted to work with an organization that was smart, well-organized, and diverse to help preserve our democracy. I did phone-banking for CP that fall, and it was a positive experience. Then in February of this year I joined CP for an Educator Learning Experience, where I traveled with a group of 30 educators to the deep South to learn about the Civil Rights movement. I came away with a wealth of knowledge to take back to my students, and I also came away inspired to take a more active role as an anti-racist educator. During the Learning Experience, Charles Douglas came to talk to us about knocking on doors for CP. He explained that CP would sponsor educators to help out in these efforts. I really wanted to give back to this organization that had given me such an incredible experience so, even though the idea of knocking on strangers’ doors is way outside of my comfort zone, I decided to join CP for their canvassing trip for the Nevada primary.
I was motivated to specifically choose door-knocking to engage with voters because that is what Common Power (and Charles Douglass, specifically) asked the educators on our Learning Tour to do.
It was clear to me that CP believes this is where we could be most effective in our efforts. I was also motivated by a desire to challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to push myself to help out in a way that made me nervous and uncomfortable. What interested me most about traveling with CP was becoming part of a group of diverse, motivated individuals who were coming together to work toward a common goal. Because of my past experiences with CP, I knew that participating in this experience would be immensely rewarding and I really wanted to give back to this organization that had given me so much to me via the Educator Learning Experience.
What scared me about traveling with CP was all of the uncertainty and the unknowns. I was concerned I wouldn’t understand how to use the technology for canvassing, I was concerned that I wouldn’t know enough about the candidates we were canvassing for to provide helpful information at people’s doors, and I was concerned about negative interactions with the people whose doors we were knocking on. I was also concerned about canvassing in 100+ degrees heat. I overcame all of this by reminding myself that I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone and by embracing CP’s philosophy of being okay with a large percentage of uncertainty.
My experience knocking on doors turned out to be really positive. It was less scary than I thought, especially after I realized that most people don’t answer their doors. It was also really helpful meeting with the candidates beforehand because I felt much better prepared to talk about why these extraordinary individuals should be elected. And the technology (minivan app) turned out to be easier to use than I thought it would be. My most memorable conversation came on my final door of the first day. An elderly woman answered the door in a wheelchair and spoke with me through the screen. She told me she had already voted and that she was a strong Democrat and supported the candidates I was canvassing for. She thanked me for coming to her door. Then her husband came to the door and told me he also wanted to support the candidates but hadn’t voted yet and wasn’t sure where to take his ballot. I was able to look up his nearest ballot drop location and let him know where to go. They were both so kind and appreciative. It was a great way to end my first day! ‘
I built connections with fellow volunteers by connecting with them during morning breakfasts, with my team during the canvassing, and with the debriefs we did at the end of the day. Because everyone there was motivated to help and wanted to be part of the group, it was easy to get to know and support each other. The training that Devon and Mary led where we connected in small groups also helped me to bond with other CP volunteers. For other volunteers considering fieldwork travel, I would encourage you to set aside your concerns and give it a go. Common Power is an AWESOME organization and they will make sure you are set up for success. It will be a powerful experience for you to realize that you CAN make a difference in our democracy. It will be inspiring to meet and work with other people who are fighting to save our country.
If you are willing to step outside of your comfort zone, you won’t regret it.
I wish I had known a little more about Minivan (the tech we use to do turfs) and the candidates before traveling. This would have helped me to feel more prepared for the experience. But Minivan turned out to be easy to use and meeting the candidates on the ground gave me a solid understanding of who they were and why they were running.
Volunteer Voices: Rita Orazem
Rita traveled with Team North Carolina on their primary trip in March 2024. Kylie, CP’s Community Engagement & Comms Senior Associate, sat down with Rita to learn more about her experience.
On a rainy Thursday afternoon, I had the absolute pleasure of catching up with Rita, a newer member of the Common Power (CP) community. I first met Rita in North Carolina (NC) during our primary trip. We instantly connected over our similar backgrounds. After learning about her initial encounter with CP, I knew I had to learn more about her decision to do on-the-ground Fieldwork with us.
Rita made it a point to stay tuned in to what was going on around her throughout her life. Like me, she pursued Political Science during her undergraduate career in hopes of understanding how the world really works. With her flexible job as a flight attendant, she had tried many forms of service, but was still seeking the “right fit”. Lately, she felt disillusioned by the direction of our country and the state of democracy. Like many of us, she knew wanted to do something but wasn’t sure how.
As luck would have it, Rita visited a Goodwill location during our annual voter registration campaign (shoutout to Jessica Lui who spearheaded this project in 2023) and asked the volunteers at the table what organization they were part of. While the voter registration campaign was coming to a close, our stellar volunteers recommended checking out our website. Rita signed up for our email newsletter (shameless plug) and stayed up-to-date with opportunities to volunteer.
Rita first made contact with CP Staff at one of our Volunteer 101 Sessions hosted by the Fieldwork Department. She was “impressed” by the presentation. Despite the “dire times” we are in, the messaging was “positive and hopeful”. To be clear there wasn’t sugarcoating, but the energy was nice and accepting. CP felt like an organization she could join.
Some find Fieldwork travel intimidating, but not Rita. She liked the idea of traveling to places where things are “getting real”. She saw the need for volunteers and thought to herself “I can go so I will go”. To her, getting on the ground was the biggest contribution she could make.
Ahead of travel, Rita was most excited about the opportunity to engage with the local partner organization, North Carolina Black Alliance. We both agree that exposure to locals is one of the most enriching parts of travel. She was also eager to see how we organized. While not everything was planned to a tee, she felt confident in her Team Leads. She knew they were in control and all would soon be revealed.
Travel and new experiences still always come with some sense of apprehension. Rita wondered to herself if this would be the right fit, how she could contribute, and if she had the stamina to canvas all day. I was happy to hear that all of her fears went away once we gathered as a Team in NC.
On the ground, Rita made observations that challenged her expectations. For example, while we were working in the city of Raleigh, we mostly spent time in newly gentrification neighborhoods. One thing we both admired was the unique flair that houses displayed, reflecting their personalities.
Anyone who’s ever gone door-knocking can attest to the hope of encountering more people willing to answer the door. Rita reflected positively on her experiences with those who did. Often folks would start with some trepidation, barely opening the door. Once they realized Rita didn’t want anything from them they were grateful for the information she was there to share and began to open up. This shift displays the importance of the work we are there to do.
If you’ve been around CP for a while, you’ll be familiar with one of our sayings “come for the work, stay for the people”. Rita found that being a driver helped build connections with fellow volunteers from the get-go. On arrival day, she helped get folks from the airport to our hotel and on each day of canvassing, she had a new community of passengers to learn from and share with. We both appreciate that CP creates a unique environment for us to interact with people different from us. Our Teams are intentionally inter-generational and inter-racial and we are all committed to the work and getting to know each other.
When I asked Rita what she would tell someone considering Fieldwork travel she said the following three pieces of advice:
Stay open
Trust the process
Know that you’ll have a rewarding experience
Volunteer Voices: Julie & Kurt Billett
Julie and Kurt traveled with Team North Carolina on their primary trip in March 2024
As with all service trips, we receive more than we give. It was true of the recent Common Power fieldwork trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. My introduction to Common Power came by way of David Domke. I had attended some of David’s lectures years before and through newsletters had learned of his organization to promote democracy, Common Purpose (now Common Power). An opportunity had come up for a fundraising event and my husband and I decided to attend. We met exuberant young people who were volunteers and staff. We also had the privilege of listening to an interesting panel, which included a woman who had been present at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. Some attendees we spoke with had been on fieldwork trips and thus the seed was planted.
The time was right to step out, and my husband Kurt and I chose Raleigh, NC. NC Black Alliance (Advance Carolina) was the partner organization and 3 eager CP team leaders came prepared to lead us. Several CP staff members were also working alongside. NC had instituted new voter restriction laws and our task was to remind and encourage voting in the primary which now required the appropriate forms of ID.
We learned that we needed to embrace the mantra, 100% comfortable with 70% certainty. We would lean on the partner to direct us. Schedules could change and we would be flexible. As Super Tuesday primary loomed, our task was to encourage people to vote. With multiple cars of canvassing teams over 4 days we were able to reach 2300 households. In addition to canvassing we benefited from other experiences. The Poor People’s Campaign rally downtown Raleigh kicked us off and a presentation from the president of Advance Carolina gave us a solid understanding of the state’s political systems. One of the most rewarding outcomes was the relationships formed with other team members. We spanned the years from Gen Z to boomers and some in between. We had fun and meaningful conversations, ate meals together and shared our lives and dreams. Purpose, adventure and impact begin with a small step, we were thankful we said yes.
Volunteer Voices: Trina Doerfler
Trina traveled with Team Texas on their primary trip in March 2024
What a group! Truly truly stronger together. We spent a hot humid week marching up and down neighborhoods inn McAllen Texas, each day beautifully different, as car groups and neighborhoods changed, local orgs all with their own spectrum of strengths and spice.
We were a group that stretched all the demographics, from all over the world, from many different decades making a rich, strong, vibrant (funny, kind, generous, thoughtful and caring) group whose first priority was taking care of each other, thus enabling us all to go out to the next set of doors. Both Elizabeth and Olivia led us with extraordinary awareness both of the group and all of us individually. We felt held, seen, heard and considered, not a small feat.
I traveled with CP in 2022 to Arizona, then Texas for Midterm day (expecting a red wave) and Georgia for the run-off. I remember clinging to my carpool partner the first morning of the first day but by the third there was no fear and I was really looking forward to meeting the people on whose doors I was knocking. I was back in touch with my love for the human race. That's why I couldn’t wait to start this year.
We worked first for the campaign of Michelle Vallejos, a woman with deep roots and investment in the community, a bright spirit with star power, going places. She won the primary and will re-match with the incumbent. We are hopeful and will return this fall. And then an amazing org called LUPE, a group started by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, providing services and support for local folks, now headed by Michael, who had all the brilliance, humility and utter intensity that the “menschismo” he embodies generates.
Then there was the agitated young Mexican-A merican business owner, Republican, that Mary, Kate and I met canvassing his neighborhood. He wasn’t on our list, but just being gregarious in the street we were crossing. We naturally engaged him. When the convo started and he found out we were Dems, he backed away in mock horror and made the sign of the Cross.
He had friendly yet confounding complaints about Bidenomics (chunks lost to child support, employees’ insurance, perceived tax increase under Biden), he was sure he was better off under the last administration. I muttered that I was pretty sure his taxes had gone up under Trump.
Then Kate asked just the right questions, brought up the Cold War and how we used to be scared of Russia and its dictator. Was so genuinely curious about why he felt as he did. We listened. This drew him out and finally we heard him say that he hated Trump (although still voting for him), and agreed that the threat of Trump’s affection for a brutal authoritarian was real and dangerous.
We didn’t change his mind (only because I forgot to mention Biden’s accomplishments: reduction in drug prices, record high employment, 45,000 construction and infrastructure projects from the Inflation Reduction Act, etc) but he was left with the memory of three authentically interested (older white) women from afar, there to get people to vote. The co-inoculation changed us all. He by our open curiosity, we by contact with the real headwind facing us and all of us by intermingling our belief systems.
It may be incredibly important that the bubbles bump into each other like this. The humanity of people that I have estranged myself from came through, those committed and oppositional Republicans, (also) quarantined in their own version of reality. I need more of this.
Volunteer Voices: Alejandro Fernandez
Alejandro traveled with Team North Carolina on their primary trip in March 2024
Volunteering with Common Power has really been an experience that I will never forget. It was something that has now set the standard of what political education should be and how to build a strong community of leaders all working towards one goal.
I just recently got involved in Common Power because I was looking for a way to be more involved in the world around me and I was searching for different avenues to give back to communities. I was referred by a friend to come and check out Common Power, which led me to volunteer with them in North Carolina.
Leading up to the trip, Common Power did a great job with communicating all the information I needed, flights, hotel, etc. I also did some of the training sessions with them which helped in understanding what I was going to do once I landed in NC. After we landed, the Team Leads made sure we had everything we needed to be successful on the ground. They also had scheduled meetings with their partner organization, which I thought was wonderful because it educated us on certain issues happening there locally.
The door knocking was also a great experience, it was wonderful to have one on one conversations with people and to understand what they were looking for in their political leaders. One of my most meaningful interactions was when I went up to a door and spoke to a person about the issues that he was most concerned with. He went on to explain how he likes to wait until election day, instead of early voting, because the candidates will usually stop by the polls to greet their constituents. He even said he was planning on taking their granddaughter so she could see how it all works and prepare her for it when it's her turn. That made quite the impact on me, because nowadays it's harder to get the younger generations out to the polls, but there are still people who are still educating the youth on the voting system.
Overall I enjoyed my first trip with Common Power and I hope to be able to make a few more trips leading up to the election. I also hope to be a part of other aspects and community events the more they happen.
Small Steps, Big Impact: The Power of Squads
Our current Squads, all operating on different timelines and time zones, are hard at work contacting voters. Just last week, our Squads sent over 600 postcards to Arizona. The week before, to Pennsylvania. They called in their friends, their neighbors, and even the people at their church to join them in action.
After a successful first month of Squads, I want to take a moment to introduce myself and Squads, a Fieldwork program we re-launched in March. I’m Jessica, a Fieldwork Associate with Common Power. Maybe you’ve read my name floating around in the remote world or seen my face at a couple of trainings for the last couple of years, but today, I’m happy to be leading our Squads program.
So what is “Squads”?
Squads first emerged in 2020 as a response to the pandemic that left us with few opportunities to engage in community. We reimagined what fieldwork could be and learned how to participate in democracy in innovative ways: phone banking, text banking, and postcarding in our little Covid bubble. Now, four years later, we’ve made it past the pandemic but we didn’t forget the lessons we learned along the way.
In 2024, we’re feeling the anxiety and pressure to win. And while there’s a lot of energy for action, it’s hard to know exactly where to put it. Where do we start? How do we decide which election, issue, or candidate is the ONE thing we should be focusing on?
That’s what Squads is for.
Squads are the perfect way to direct your energy into productive action all year round. We curate specific action opportunities that will best impact the national map and we feed them to you on the regular. Instead of waiting for November to come, every day becomes an opportunity to make a difference in the world around you. It's like having a personal roadmap to activism. And the best part is, is that you can share it with your friends and family.
Squads are how we make fieldwork sustainable.
Saving democracy isn't exactly a walk in the park. It's tough and tiring, believe me. Even though I love this work, I still feel the burnout creeping in at the end of every week. And when I think about the dedicated teachers, the working parents, the stressed-out millennials, and the rebellious teens — all finding time in their packed schedules to join our cause, it genuinely blows my mind.
Our program isn't about making democracy feel like a chore. It's about making it fun, bringing friends together, and making a difference while we're at it. It might sound complicated, but I promise it's not. It’s actually the simplest thing in the world.
Imagine this: you and your friends, all gathered together to drink wine and watch The Bachelor on a Tuesday night. Why not add some postcarding into the mix? Instead of having just the weekly couch gossip, why don’t we also send some texts to voters together? Get a group of friends and go gather some petitions for a weekend. Squads are what you already do in your everyday lives but with the bonus of a little action.
How does Squads work?
Every time we send out a newsletter, we offer work to influence the most important elections at that given time. We keep our eyes out for special elections that fly under the radar but end up tipping the balance of a state legislature. We look at where the momentum is at and see how we can amplify grassroots efforts. We do the research and figure out the best time to send texts or mail a postcard in time for voters to receive and get to the polls.
Squads are all about doing small, easy actions together to make a BIG impact.
If it's once a week or even once a year, the little steps you take today add up and will make a difference in November. So I hope to see you out there, with your own Squad, taking action and having fun while you’re at it!