Campaigns make the final push of the cradle state

By SCOTT BAUER, CHARLOTTE KRAMON, GARY D. ROBERTSON, and LISA MASCARA

CROSS PLAINS, Wis. (AP) — At this stage of the CHOICEthe arguments have been made, the airwaves flooded with ads, mailboxes and doorsteps littered with flyers. What’s left is to go out to vote.

It’s a crucial step that can make or break campaigns, turning Americans into voters, pushing them to the polls — or the mailbox or the ballot box — with their choices.

Democrats this year are relying on a traditional strategy of targeted phone calls, text messages and door-knocking from the party and its allies to encourage turnout for Vice President Kamala Harris. Former President Donald Trump did outsourced much of the Republican operation to groups like America PAC, the billionaire-backed organization Elon Muskwho took the unorthodox and possibly illegal step of giving 1 million dollars a day in prize money.

Now, the two sides are competing to get their voters out in battleground states:

WISCONSIN

Kathy Moran never thought she’d be standing on the street at sunset, political flyers in a bag over her shoulder, going door to door trying to get people to vote.

But Moran, a 64-year-old retired lawyer, said one night in late October that he couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer.

“With his overthrow Roe v. Wadewhat I couldn’t imagine, I just had to get involved,” she said as she surveyed the streets of Cross Plains, a village of about 4,000 people on the outskirts of Wisconsin’s liberal capital, Madison.

Democrats hope they will make the difference in volunteers like Moran cradle states like Wisconsin, where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by 21,000 votes or less.

The Democrats’ approach to getting out the vote is clear: They call on a vast network of activists, volunteers, Democratic Party faithful and others to spread across the country to make sure their voters go to the polls.

What America PAC does for Trump it is less clear.

America PAC is targeting infrequent voters in Wisconsin by canvassing neighborhoods and sending digital and text mail and ads, said the organization’s spokesman, Andrew Romeo.

However, America PAC declined a request from The Associated Press to personally observe the work.

Republicans have privately expressed concern that America PAC is doing enough to get out the vote for Trump in a crucial situation. battleground states. Whatever their methods, more Republicans vote early than in the last election, another sign of great enthusiasm.

“A get-out-the-vote operation cannot turn a bounce ball into a landslide,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler. “But it can absolutely turn a 50-50 race into a 49.5-50.5 race.”

Moran said he walks between 8,000 and 14,000 steps on a typical night of canvassing and meets most Harris voters while knocking on doors of houses decorated with skeletons, funeral signs and a few political signs.

A woman refuses to engage with Moran, saying through the closed glass screen door that it’s “none of her business”. Another man says he has already voted but would not say for whom.

Another sees his “Harris/Walz” and “, la” buttons, smiles and says, “I see you’re with Harris.” He assures her that everyone in his house is voting for her.

Moran enters notes into an application so voters committed to Harris won’t be bothered again.

GEORGIA

The Harris Campaign has more than 40,000 volunteers plus a staff of 220 working from 32 field offices across the state. The campaign says its volunteers and staff have knocked on more than a million doors, including more than 100,000 last weekend alone, and made two million phone calls.

“The ground game is very, very busy,” said state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, a Dawson Democrat. “We knock on doors every day, but the communities are huge. There is a lot of ground to cover, but we have extremely hardworking volunteers who come out and put their all into this race.”

Sims said she’s not sure who will win Georgia because she’s seen similar enthusiasm on the ground from Republicans.

The Trump campaign says it has nearly 25,000 volunteers working in Georgia and has hosted more than 2,000 events there in the past three months.

At one event, eight women in matching pink Trump jackets with “47” emblazoned on the sleeves and personalized engravings of their names marched on a spacious ranch south of Atlanta as part of Team Trump’s women’s tour.

The South Fulton crowd was small, but RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump and former US Senator Kelly Loeffler urged supporters to rally their friends to vote for Trump.

Kim Burnette signed up to phone bank with the Trump campaign this year, calling the rare voters who are registered Republicans.

“A lot of people are saying they’re going to vote,” Burnette said. “Looks good.”

Candace Duvall drove about 30 miles to the event and showed up decked out in gold Trump merchandise — she patched bright letters that spelled out his name on her T-shirt and wore earrings that featured his photo. She rushed to the polls on the first day of early voting to vote for Trump, but is still receiving a barrage of texts, calls and fliers from his campaign.

“He’s our only chance,” Duvall said. “I think he was chosen by God and I think this is good versus evil.”

Camilla Moore and Lisa Babbage, president and vice president of the Georgia Black Republican Council, also showed up to support women for Trump.

The pair has been mobilizing black voters in South Fulton through events in recent months.

“It was easier this time than ever before,” Moore said.

People are less shy about supporting Trump now than they were in 2020, Moore said. They are more open to conversation as they make the former president’s case.

NORTH CAROLINA

Charles Benson, 68, of Kinston, North Carolinasaid he is contacted several times a week, mostly by text, about elections and voting.