WASHINGTON (AP) – Across much of America, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t fading away. But political campaigns are still forging ahead with in-person organizing.
The pandemic upended elections this year, forcing campaigns to shift their organizing activities almost entirely online and compelling both parties to reconfigure their conventions. President Donald Trump earlier this month announced plans to move the Republican National Convention to Florida after a spat with North Carolina’s governor over that state’s pace of reopening, and on Wednesday, Democrats announced they’d hold almost all of their convention virtually.
But even as some states are seeing record increases in infection rates, Republicans and now Democrats are getting back to the in-person door-knocking that took a pause at the start of the pandemic.
“We’ve switched as much as we can to digital, and I think folks are interested in doing that as much as possible, but there is an element of this work that does require that in-person interaction,” said Alex Morgan, executive director of the Progressive Turnout Project. “We’ve found in our conversations and our research and our consultations with infectious-disease experts, this can be done in a safe and responsible way.”
The Progressive Turnout Project is launching a $52.5 million, 17-state field program this weekend with plans to hire 1,100 staffers nationwide and knock on 10 million doors by Election Day, according to details shared first with The Associated Press. It will be the first major in-person canvassing effort launched nationwide that’s aimed at electing Democrats since the pandemic began, as Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has yet to resume in-person campaigning, citing safety concerns.