By Stephanie Bedford -
As one of the newest members of the Madtown O’s, I might not be familiar to many of you. But what I lack in experience, I’m making up for in enthusiasm this election cycle. For me, this looks like signing up for as many canvassing shifts as I can work into my schedule.
Contrary to what you might think, I’m not a lady of leisure. I work a full-time job as an attorney and have lots of other activities on my calendar. For years (well, decades, if I’m being honest), I told myself that I’d get more involved politically when my kids grew up and I had more time.
Then the kids grew up, but I never felt like I had the bandwidth to be one of THOSE people. You know, the ones who have time to volunteer for everything under the sun and make it look easy. It’s always felt like a heavy lift to me, despite my strong interest in politics and my passion for issues like voter access, the environment, LGBTQIA+ issues, and more.
And knocking on doors is scary, right? All of those strangers! What if they’re angry? What if they ask me probing questions I’m not prepared to answer? If you’re even a little bit introverted, the prospect of marching around someone else’s neighborhood and asking nosy questions is a prospect akin to getting a root canal.
But I’m here to tell you that, much to my surprise, canvassing can be fun and energizing. It feels GOOD. My first time out, Charles was my “canvassing buddy,” showing me how the Minivan app works and giving me his tips and tricks. After one session, I was still apprehensive, but ready to go out on my own.
Now that I’ve got numerous canvasses under my belt, I regret that it took me so long to get over my fear and get involved. The margins are so narrow, and Wisconsin is so crucial in this election cycle, that I know the work I and other volunteers are doing across the state really makes a difference. Meeting other volunteers, talking with people in my community about the issues that are important to them, and even having conversations with people on the other side of the aisle is making me – a lifelong Madisonian – feel meaningfully connected in a new way.
But most of all, being involved in this way is satisfying. Sure, I worry about the outcome of this election. The choices are stark and the prospect of the Presidential election not going our way seems unimaginably dark. But I’m DOING something about it. When pundits talk about Dems being organized, having a strong ground game, they’re talking about me! And they could be talking about you, too.
So I encourage everyone reading this to try knocking doors, even once. I’ll be your canvass buddy. Send me your friends. Showing up for Harris/Walz, Baldwin, and Dems up and down the ticket might just be your thing, too.