Graphic by Kinsey Ratzman ’21
Canvassing for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has become routine for Ella White ’22 over the past few months. She spent this semester talking to voters for the senator in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
When she tells people that she canvasses, White said she gets reactions like, “Oh, I’m sorry that you do that.”
“People always think that it’s miserable,” White said. “I’m like, ‘no, it’s a choice and it’s actually really fun.’”
For the most part, the people White meets are friendly and nice, often inviting her into the house or offering warm drinks as an escape from the cold. Although she can’t accept any of these offers for safety reasons, the fact that this is their first instinct touches her.
White noted that there’s a difference between canvassing in New Hampshire and in Massachusetts. She finds that those in New Hampshire tend to be more hospitable and open to conversation, perhaps because they’re used to being among the first to vote in the country and therefore have lots of canvassers coming to them.
“People in New Hampshire ... really want to talk about politics,” White said. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, these are my thoughts.’ I actually ran into a couple of Trump supporters who were like ‘Yeah, we might actually vote for Warren, she’s really interesting.’”
In Massachusetts, however, she finds more people are uncomfortable with talking about their political views.
Senator Warren isn’t the only Democratic Primary candidate with an on-campus presence. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) came to Springfield on Friday, Feb. 28, for a rally which was attended by many Mount Holyoke students. Aria Raffa ’23 attended the rally with her friends. It was her first time going to a political rally.
“It was kind of an impromptu thing, we just decided to go,” Raffa said. Waiting in the line was not fun, but it was an experience.”
Raffa said that one of the most shocking parts for her was seeing the protesters outside of the rally.
“There were people there holding ‘Trump Pence 2020’ signs, and also signs that said things like ‘Socialism is for slaves.’ That was really weird to see coming from a really liberal city,” Raffa explained.
Emma Sullivan ’22 decided to attend the campaign rally on Friday because, while she had already decided to support Sanders, she wanted to see him speak in person.
“[I] wanted to see if his words and his energy truly matched what I wanted in our next president, and they absolutely did,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan remembers many inspiring moments during the rally. In fact, she found herself writing quotes down on her phone, since so many of Sanders’ words on affordable childcare, medicare, housing and college resonated with her.
“First of all, his opener was a fiddler and if that doesn’t show how awesome and down to earth Bernie is, I don’t know what will,” Sullivan said. “It was so magical watching him speak about climate change and women’s rights and medicare — for saying how he would stand for the people and be by the people, helping us get what we need and want.”
“It’s not him running the U.S. ... It’s us,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan has also been phone banking and canvassing for Sanders’ campaign through the South Hadley Sunrise Hub. Sullivan emphasized that going out and talking to people by phone banking, canvassing and going to rallies gets other people thinking about a candidate and boosts voting.
“Voting is such an individual thing, and it’s the end goal,” Sullivan said. “But all of the things that lead up to it like rallies and actions and canvassing are what really get people to get excited about a candidate and go out and vote.”
According to The New York Times, with 94 percent of votes counted in Massachusetts, former Vice President Joe Biden is the declared winner in the state, winning 33.4 percent of the vote. Sanders won 26.7 percent and Warren won 21.6 percent of the vote.