Next Harris Sign Wave Tuesday 4-6pm

Speedway and Country Club Intersection. One week until election day!

Oct 28, 2024

On Sunday, the 27th, from 9am to noon we had a spirited crowd of Harris Waltz supporters at the busy intersection of River and Campbell. People came and went and the crowd remained substantial. We were cheered by the number of honks and thumbs up but nothing could match our joy at hearing the sunny reports from canvassers who dropped by to join us. Sign waving feels good and shows widespread support but it is the volunteers, people like you and me, who knock on doors and phone bank who are the foot soldiers of this movement.

We’re all anxious about the election..

..and that’s good because we’ve invested our hearts, our sweat, our tears and our wallets in winning this. Of course, we’re anxious. We love our country. We love our candidates. There could not be a more winning ticket than Kamala and Tim. We are not going back.

By the time General Washington and his regiments, along with Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton, encircled the redcoats at Yorktown in 1781 the colonial soldier had gone through years of daunting military failures. After many defeats by the world’s mightiest army they were often ready to give up but General Washington always managed to hold our revolutionary army together. Back in 1776 at Valley Forge, Washington had the first essay from Tom Paine’s pamphlet, “The American Crisis”, read to the troops during the terrible winter.

“These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands with it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Two hundred and forty eight years later, in 2024, we, the inheritors of the greatest revolution to liberate humankind, feel that these days of peril are times that try men's and women’s souls like never before.

You are not alone.

In the siege of Yorktown Lt. Col. A. Hamilton, leading troops of the light infantry division of Major General Marquis De Lafayette, by night, armed only with bayonets, captured the redoubt that made the conquest of Yorktown possible. Hamilton’s unit was an integrated group of men which included Black soldiers from the 1^stRhode Island Regiment, the first Black battalion in U.S. military history.

A small contingent of Trump backers appeared on the southwest corner of Campbell and River. From the response of folks driving past it truly felt like Pima County is the Blue Wall that’s going to put the whole state in the Blue.

Tom Paine said it well. “..the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

As you contemplate volunteering today think on the courage of the brave Americans from the beaches of Normandy to the lunch counters of Greensboro, the ordinary Americans who bravely enrich our story of a people striving to perfect our Union. It’s your turn to join the fight.

Our next sign wave

Our next sign wave is this Tuesday, 10-29-24, from 4-6p at the intersection of Speedway and Country Club. Make an effort to park in non-commercial spaces. There’s a big empty lot east of Country Club on the south side of Speedway between the Walgreens and the old Bookman’s that is now an antique mall.

I suggest we focus on sidewalk from the intersection to the old Bookman’s, cheering on homeward bound commuters.

One week until election day!

Safety note

Stay on the sidewalk and avoid the curb edge. We don’t want to lose any of you to Tucson’s hazardous traffic!

Why Canvas or phone bank?

If these are times that try your soul do something. Volunteer. Join the door knockers as they close the deal. At this point you’ll be spreading out with partners, reminding Democrats who haven’t yet voted to vote because every vote counts.

“I could never knock on a stranger’s door.”

“Yes. You can. You knock as a team.”

Check out our site. Look at the tutorial videos. Find an effort or an event. Volunteer and make new friends for life: https://www.mobilize.us/azdems/?q=tucson

And when your grand kids (or grand cats) ask you, “back in 2024 what did you do to elect America’s first female President?” you won’t have to say, “I watched MSNBC and wrung my hands.”

Here I asked Tim Shieh, a cheerful campaign worker from the Kirsten Engel campaign about knocking on doors to get out the vote:

If you still have doubts about the importance of canvassing this piece in Politico by Liz Crampton details the role canvassers are playing in Arizona: Arizona could become the blueprint for Democrats looking to build state power

Halloween Sign Waving

Halloween is this Thursday and we will be doing a sign wave at the intersection of 22^nd street and Alvernon, northeast corner, from 11am-2pm. On the northeast corner there is a Dutch Brothers. Park in the empty lot to the east of the Dutch Brothers. Don’t take up customer parking.

Halloween themed yard art by Democrats Ellen and Stephen Saltonstall

Check out the legendary Frankensign

…before it’s displayed next to “The Thing” on I-10 west of Willcox.

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh’s large Harris Walz yard sign has been defaced and mutilated by her pro-Trump neighbors multiple times and every attack only hardened Sylvia’s resolve to repair and resurrect her sign. Frankensign has risen from the dead to appear with us at our sign wave. Twice destroyed, and back for Halloween, Frankensign lives on in Sylvia’s yard at Bear Canyon and Tanque Verde.

We’ll see you on the streets of your community fighting for every vote. Because when we fight…

Sign Wave Schedule. Five Sign Waves left until Election Day!