Canvassing Report: Wilson for Mayor!

I volunteered on a canvassing shift for Katie Wilson for Mayor yesterday. There were about 17 of us volunteers out in Capitol Hill on Sat around noon. We paired up and knocked hundreds of doors to engage voters and try to collect democracy vouchers for the campaign Wilson just launched. Most people didn’t answer their doors so we dropped off flyers as expected, but the people who did answer were super nice. I started off a bit shaky/nervous, but hit my stride after the 2nd conversation.

Only one older lady told us to get off her property (before we said what we were there for, all good!). Also, Seattle has a lot of great dogs (pet count: 3)

Everyone I talked to was excited to hear that Mayor Bruce Harrell has a serious progressive challenger and almost everyone expressed frustration with his very public opposition to social housing. I didn’t bring up the negative press on Bruce, but about half the people I spoke with brought up some version of “negative press around the current Mayor” when I mentioned Katie was running for Mayor.

In ~90 mins, my partner and I collected $200 in democracy vouchers from voters who didn’t know who Katie was 10 minutes earlier. We also got promises from other people that they’d check out her campaign and planned to send her vouchers (they liked what they heard, but wanted to do some research–valid!)

My short pitch was basically that Katie:
– Leads a super effective organization where she’s helped raise the minimum wage in multiple cities, expanded transit access, passed renter protections, and played a major role in passing the progressive JumpStart tax
– Has credible plans to tackle the big issues the current mayor has neglected: more shelter, social housing, improved transit, and progressive taxation
– Is running on a progressive, pragmatic, deeply values-driven vision for Seattle

As of last Friday, ~1.5 weeks after her launch, she had $25k in donations, compared to Mayor Bruce’s $75k (and he launched in December). She’ll be going against big business money and can use all the democracy vouchers you’re able to send her. If you haven’t used yours yet, go to https://www.wilsonforseattle.com/democracy-vouchers and please assign vouchers to Katie for Mayor.

Also, you can read more bout her campaign (and/or sign up to volunteer) here: wilsonforseattle.com

I spend a lot of time worrying about the state of the country and it felt good to be a part of something working for positive change. Highly recommended–please join us!

[edit typo…]