“Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat,
but it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.”
– Activist, writer and speaker Abbie Hoffman
Since the January 6, 2021, an insurrection attack on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters trying to overthrow the U.S. Government election results, I am worried about our American democracy. Before the January 6th insurrection, I took it for granted that it was strong and would always exist.
After January 6th, I switched from being strictly a climate organizer to a climate and democracy organizer. To document my lifelong shift in thinking, I wrote an 8-part blog from October to December 2023, For Climate Action, let’s protect our democracy.
I followed up those writings with a related blog I posted in April 2024, For Climate Action, be kind to people knocking at your door. The blog was about my dedication and frustration to knocking on doors in in the Portland OR metro area as a U.S. Census Enumerator in 2020 and as a paid political canvasser/field organizer for the 2022 midterm elections. I wanted to uphold our democracy and to urge my fellow community members to vote for support Democratic candidates who would pass strong climate bills and uphold our democracy.
With the Oregon Primary Election happening in May 2024 and the general election looming on November 5, 2024, I was eager to engage with voters to urge them to support strong Democratic candidates that would stand up for our democracy from the rising threat of authoritarianism. This multi-part blog is an account of my actions January to November 2024. I will then conclude about my reaction to the 2024 election and what actions we should take now.
Part 1: Organizing and canvassing for our democracy in the spring and summer of 2024
Part 2: Rough times and the friendly cats when I canvassed in summer and fall 2024
Part 3: The Good and Bad Personal Moments canvassing in the autumn of 2024
Part 4: My actions and reactions to the November 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
Part 2: Rough Times and the friendly cats when I canvassed in summer and fall 2024
Helping people in search of government services while canvassing in the fall of 2024
After that August trip to Washington state, I had almost no breaks from canvassing until the November 5th election. My East County Rising supervisor, Billy Fish, assigned me to work 6 days a week as a field organizer knocking on doors. Except for dates with Tanya to attend a lecture to see Heather Cox Richardson on September 17th in downtown Portland and seeing the Oregon Symphony perform a live accompaniment to the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind on September 28th, plus I went to a book lecture and signing climate scientist Aryana Johnson on October 4th, I canvassed nearly all the time up until the November Election Day. I had one day off a week for me, but that did not feel like enough for me to recharge spirit and energy.
The most rewarding part of canvassing was playing a small role to try to help people in dire circumstances. This happened at least three times during the campaign.
On Friday morning, August 2nd, I canvassed for Representative Hoa Nguyen’s campaign in southeast Portland when I chatted with a constituent named Susan who needed help for her family. (names changed to protect their identity) Susan gave me permission from to give her phone number to Rep. Nguyen’s staff. Susan lived with her daughter, Sarah.
Susan told me four family members total lived in their household. Susan was a full-time caregiver for her daughter Sarah, who had epilepsy for years. Sarah struggled getting approval for disability status in Oregon. They felt like the system refused to help them and they felt discouraged. I shared Hoa’s background as an education specialist with a focus to get students back into school and then help connect them with services so they can attend school.
Even more, Sarah’s partner dealt with tumors on her uterus. Susan shared with me that her daughter-in-law Audra desperately wanted to work, possibly from home, but she will need accommodation for her disability.
I received this reply from Hoa’s legislative staff, “Thank you so much for reaching out to us and connecting our office with this constituent. I will happily reach out to them via phone to provide some assistance in any way I can. It may take a few follow-ups with our legislative contacts at ODHS, but I will jump on this right away.
I really appreciate you letting us know about this! Thank you for your continued advocacy and engagement with our office.”
This felt so empowering for me to be able to connect this family with the legislator’s constituent services to see how they could help them.
August 11th, I had another constituent who needed help getting connected to services. It was a married couple from Myanmar. The wife’s name showed up as a registered voter in Rep. Nguyen’s district. The first thing they said, “We are not American citizens, so we cannot vote.”
However, her name showed up on my VAN app canvassing list, so I assumed that she could vote. I told them that she could vote. Thus, I tried to find out if they could vote. The husband told me that they have these print out cards from the Oregon Health Authority. He wants to know where to go to the healthcare clinic and what is the name of the healthcare clinic.
Even more, the man just moved to the U.S. from Myanmar, and he was looking for a job. He spoke pretty good English. In addition, he was fluent European Spanish (he emphasized that he did not understand Mexican or South American Spanish well). He wanted to get a job but unsure how to get one.
He worked as a tour guide in Myanmar for years where he regularly used English and Spanish.
I passed along this information to Aaron on Rep. Nguyen’s staff. He replied he was happy to contact them directly. He thought there were a few different services that would be helpful.
Aaron later advised me to be careful in these situations because the wife could not vote. He soon broke the news to her that she could not vote. She was not an American citizen. She was a registered driver in Oregon. In Oregon, when someone registers to drive in the DMV they are automatically registered to vote, unless they opt out. Thus, our VAN voter database incorrectly listed her as a voter. He warned me to be careful in these situations because we could be accused of trying to encourage noncitizens to vote. I appreciated his words of wisdom.
On August 25, I had a conversation with a constituent, Jody, who could use some help/advice with constituent services that I emailed to Aaron.
Jody’s daughter had a drug addict problem and Jody was concerned for her granddaughter. She wanted to adopt her, but she was unsure how to complete the paperwork. Jody had bad past experiences with Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) when she was struggling to make ends meet trying to raise her family. They refused to be helpful in her situation. If she wanted to go to college to improve her job situation, they would threaten to cut her benefits.
I was eager for Aaron to engage with Jody. Aaron replied that he would connect with her and see how he could help her.
On October 20, I chatted with a constituent of Rep. Ricki Ruiz in south Gresham, Oregon. This woman was upset because she lived in an apartment with a lease that stated, ‘No smoking.’ Unfortunately, her downstairs neighbor constantly smoked marijuana and the apartment building was not well insulated. The pot smoke drifted up through weak points in the ventilation system. She was an asthmatic with young kids. She was irritated with her apartment manager refusing to do anything about it. When she brought up this matter, the manager would say that he needed proof before they could act. I asked Ricki’s Chief of Staff Omar Sandoval if he knew of anyone for the City of Gresham that could help her while keeping her complaint anonymous.
Hopefully, my interactions with these constituents in the summer and fall on 2024 helped improved their lives in some small way.
My worst day of knocking on doors in a rural area outside of Damacus, Oregon
At the other extreme, on September 8th, I had the most hostile encounter with anyone I had ever canvassed. I knocked on doors in a rural area in Clackamas County south of the Portland metro area. It was a lovely summer Sunday afternoon with clear skies and a perfect day to be walking out in the country. The downside was that the houses were far apart with very long driveways and the properties were separated by vast fields or lawns. Because the houses were a far distance from each other, the good news was that I got a lot of walking exercise that day. I got selfie photos with a friendly horse and another with a baby goat.
I knocked on the door of one family where it turned out that the man that answered the door was clearly a Trump supporter. He remarked, ‘I am not in favor of any of your candidates. However, can I get you some cold water to drink?’
He then offered for me to come inside his home on this warm September day so he could refill my water bottle with cold water, and he allowed me to use the restroom. It made me feel proud to be an American at that moment that we can still meet people who disagree with us about politics. Yet, we can still be neighborly and supportive to each other.
I love animals. It was a thrill encountering a friendly horse and baby goat that day. When I was walking by a chain linked fence, a curious horse came up to say hello. I took three selfies with the horse, including one with Rep. Hoa Nguyen’s campaign. Later that day, I posted the horse photos on social media, especially the one with me holding up the campaign lit, to promote Hoa Nguyen’s re-election campaign.
Towards the end of the day, the baby goat was loose from the farm it resided. It looked separated from a group of goats on a nearby property. It followed me down the road like I could somehow get it home. I did not have answers for this goat. However, it allowed me to take two selfie photos with it. Seeing the farm animals was the best part of that day.
My low point of the day happened in the middle of the afternoon. I walked down one very side road to a large two-story house with a lively party happening on the inside. The person who answered the door lectured me that “people around here don’t like people walking around on people’s doors. This ain’t Portland and there ain’t no sidewalks here. People get suspicious when they see someone walking around knocking on doors.”
I found his comments odd because I had met nothing but kind and polite people in this rural area. I just ignored him when he lectured me. I just smiled and I did not say anything.
I turned around to walk further up the street. He then yelled at me, “This is a private street, and you need to go away.”
I didn’t like his condescending tone towards me. It’s like my humanity didn’t exist for him and I didn’t want to give him any satisfaction that he could just order me around. I didn’t even look at him. I had one more house to canvas on that street. I then went up to the final house, which I thought was the address I needed to canvas. The house was totally empty. There were no blinds as I walked by the front windows, revealing no furniture inside. It looked dusty and abandoned for a long period of time. I then turned around to leave this house and side street. As I left that lonely house, the hostile individual came roaring up to me full speed on his four-wheeler. He then shouted at me, “Didn’t I tell you to leave this private street? That other house is empty and belongs to me. Did you not hear what I was telling you? Are you deaf?” I kept walking with my eyes straight ahead trying not to notice him. He temper exploded, “Did you not hear me?”
I felt full of fear and dread. I stated as I walked, “I am just doing my job, which you are making it hard for me to do. I am leaving your street right now!”
Another two-story house was on this street that did not belong to him. He raced the four-wheeler in front of that house to then block it make sure I would not canvass that door, even though it was not on my list. He then swiftly rode the four-wheeler back to his house watching me the whole time. He acted like he owned the whole street. Oddly, one other property owner lived on that street. As I left the street, I took a photo of the signs. The top sign stated: “Caution: Speed Bumps Ahead.” The bottom sign read: “Speed Limit 5 MPH.” There was no private property sign.
This incident emotionally shook me. I was alarmed that my stubbornness almost got me in a dangerous situation where I could have been injured or worse. I somehow endured through an incident where my life felt threatened. It was a quiet area with few cars traveling around. Yet, I could hear my heart beating in my chest very loud from what just happened.
Friendly Cats when I was canvassing in the summer and fall of 2024
Although that guy left a very searing memory in my mind, I was comforted by the many friendly cats when I canvassed from the end of July to November 5, 2024.
It seemed like I encountered very loving and kind cats on numerous days when I canvassed in the summer and fall of 2024. Some of these cats were probably hungry and wanted food. Some of these cats lobbied me to let them inside their owners’ home. Some were just curious about me wondering what I was doing in their neighbor. Other cats just loved people and wanted affection from me. Whatever the reason, the friendly cats were the best part of canvassing. At one point, I had seven days in a row with a friendly cat to greet me. The cats made the grind of the long days and the many humans slamming their doors in my face well worth it.
I don’t want to anthropomorphize the cats. At the same time, on my worst days, the friendly cats seemed to cross my path to say, ‘You got this, dude! Don’t let the rude human bastards get you down! I care about you! Oh, by the way, can you scratch my chin, rub my back, let me inside, and give me some food while you here?’
One of the first cats I remembered was a very friendly black cat in the Powellhurst-Gilbert working class neighborhood in southeast Portland. It was a hot weekday on August 13th. I knocked on someone’s door, but they were not home. It sounded like there were teenagers inside having fun playing video games. They did not answer the door, which was fine by me.
At the edge of the porch, curious slender black cat came up to me wanting its chin scratched and its back rubbed. It may have wanted me to let it inside. I took three photos with the cat. It did not seem to mind at all. I probably spent close to 10 minutes interacting with this cat on this porch. The kids and maybe the adults did not seem to care. They never opened the door to check on the cat or me. I finally said goodbye to the cat, so I could get some work done knocking on doors that day. I returned to this neighborhood on September 4th. I was shocked this same friendly black cat greeted me again and I took a selfie with it.
In between seeing this short haired black cat, I encountered a long-haired black cat in a secluded upscale neighborhood in outer southeast Portland that wanted to get know me.
I saw many different breeds of friendly cats when I canvassed in the summer and autumn of 2024. I had a sweet Siamese cat in front of a low-income apartment in southeast Portland.
I had a white and beige fluffy long-haired cat that wanted attention in the Centennial neighborhood in southeast Portland. It did not mind that I took selfie photo with it. None of the friendly cats cared that I took self-photographs with them on my iPhone. The only constraint was not the cats. Sometimes the sun would be at odd angles behind a tree or building late in the day that would make it too dark to photograph the cats. The cats were not bothered that the lighting was too poor to photograph them. That was my problem, not there’s.
I had a gregarious Russian blue that I took a selfie photo with me in the Gresham Butte neighborhood on September 29th. I had a lovely black and white tuxedo cat come up to me for affection on October 6th. This cat did the stop, flop, and roll maneuver on the hard pavement. My understanding is that the flop and roll action that cats do is to show you that they like you and trust you. When cats do that, they are exposing their soft underbelly, which they would never want to show that vulnerable area to predators. When the cats roll on their backs and show that soft area to humans, they are basically saying, ‘I like you and I trust you.’
On October 5, 2024, it rained hard in Gresham. I got soaked canvassing. I just wanted to give up and go to my lovely apartment. I hated my job that day. At my worst moment, a middle-aged Latino woman encouraged me to sit on her porch. She got a cup of coffee for me. I strongly dislike the taste of coffee. However, gesture was so kind that I had to drink some of it. The hot temperature of the water warming me up and the aroma of the coffee uplifted me in that moment. While she insisted I have a seat on her porch, she went digging through her house and car parked in her garage desperately trying to find an umbrella for me. All her generosity brought tenderness to my soul and a rejuvenation to canvass this neighborhood some more.
The rain continued to pour hard. I canvassed more, but I had a difficult time locating one house listed on my canvassing phone app. I walked back and forth by this Victorian style house on a corner. I had such a hard time trying to find the address of a specific house that I wanted to go home and stop canvassing. On the porch of that Victorian House, a grey and white calico cat came out to greet me. It acted like it knew I was having a horrible day. It decided to be friendly and seemed to want to say to me: ‘Everything is going to be alright! Don’t give up!’
That cat in that moment provided so much comfort for me. It only wanted to interact with me for a few minutes before heading on. However, I will always appreciate that cat and that manifestation of the universe giving me joy and comfort on that blah grey cold rainy day.
On another cool grey autumn day in October, I canvassed a middle-class suburban neighborhood in Troutdale, Oregon. I felt like I was making good progress knocking on a lot of doors that day. Not that many people were home, so I went through my big list of homes somewhat quickly. When I walked up the steps to knock on the door on one gray split level home, a long-haired gray and white hefty cat greeted me.
I then sat on the steps to allow the cat to approach me. The cat hobbled towards me because it only had 3 legs. One of its back legs was missing. This cat wanted lots of attention, but it also indicated that it wanted to be let inside. I tried to explain to the cat that I didn’t have a key or way to let the cat inside. The cat didn’t understand my excuse. After I petted the cat on the steps for a while, I walked down the rest of the steps to start heading to my next house.
The 3-legged cat then followed me down the steps and the paved sideway. It wanted more attention from me while also still pleading with me to let it inside the house. I tried to explain to the cat again that I did not have an ability to let it inside. It then followed me through vegetated assortment of wild plants in the front yard. It seemed happy exploring the front yard while continuing to be curious about me. I then told the cat again that I had work to do and I had to leave. Finally, the cat got the message and headed back to the front porch.
The cat then meowed on the front steps on the porch. This time, a human that I could not see cracked open the front door to let the cat inside. I thought it was hilarious that the whole time a human decided to avoid me while I interacted with their cat outside. Even more funny, I kept explaining to the cat that I could not let the cat inside because I thought nobody was home and the door was locked. The human waited for me to leave to let the cat back inside.
I never held it against anyone who did not want to answer the door. I would rather have someone not answer the door than to yell at me and slam the door in my face. Ultimately, the cat won because it went inside like it wanted the whole time. Actually, all of us won! The person inside did not have to talk with me. I did not have to talk to a person who did not want to chat with me. The cat got attention from a new person and then it was let back inside.
Cats have an interesting if not mischievous sense of humor. On November 1st when I canvassed on streets not far from my home in my neighborhood, a curious Russian Blue breed cat approached me. I kneeled down to its level to interact with it and give it attention. I laid my canvassing bad next to me so I could focus on the cat. The next thing I knew, this grey cat plopped on top of my work bag so I could fully devote myself to it. I gave it a full neck and back massage for several minutes. I then had to find a way to reclaim my tote bag from the cat to continue canvassing. I snapped a photo of the cat on top of my bag. However, I don’t remember the cat’s reaction when I decided to reclaim the bag and continue canvassing.
For East County Rising, we had a Signal chat for all the field organizers to stay in communications. On Signal, I would post my selfies with the cats to the delight of my co-workers. They liked my cat selfie posts so much that they started posting their own interactions with cats while canvassing, as well as friendly encounters with dogs, and other humorous happenings they experienced while door knocking.
By the time the November 5th election came, I had worked 7 days in a row and 36 out of 40 days knocking on doors in Portland OR for ECR to urge local voters to vote for local Democratic candidates. I felt bone tired.
On Sunday, November 3rd, I had a rough day canvassing in northeast Portland. I walked up 3 steps to a small house in the working-class neighborhood of Sumner in northeast Portland. When I moved toward the front door on the porch, my leg fell through a square hole on the porch that I did not see in time. It startled me to suddenly fall inside fancy designed air space. It was scared I had injured my leg, but I was only shaken up by the experience. This shock to my system, while I was thankfully ok, was another indication to me that I wanted to be finished with the canvassing that would end on election day, Tuesday, November 5th.
As I felt jarred from falling through that spot on the porch, I stumbled across a friendly
cat late in the afternoon. I walked up to a porch to knock on a door. No one answered so I rolled up the campaign lit and placed it in between the doorknob and the door frame. A black cat then came up to me wondering what I was doing and if I could give it attention. I spent several minutes doing my best to make this cat happy. I sat on this porch so long hanging with the cat that I think that the owner came to the door wondering what was going on outside.
Just one hour after I engaged with this friendly black and white cat in northeast Portland on November 3rd, I saw a brown banner in front of someone’s home that read,
“C.L.A.W.S: Cat Lovers Against White Supremacy.”
Anyway, this friendly cat and that banner was the comfort I needed to get through the last 48 hours of knocking on doors to urge last minute voters to turn in their ballots. Just a few minutes later, I knocked on someone’s door of a middle-aged woman. When I said I was knocking on doors for the election campaign, she got excited: “Oh good! I am filling out my ballot right now and I am trying to figure out who I should vote for!”
She let me inside her home. I then sat at her kitchen table with her and I gave her my recommendations for the candidates and ballot measures she should vote for on her ballot. She was appreciative and thrilled that I knocked on her door because she felt overwhelmed filling out her election ballot with only a couple days left to vote. I wanted to thank all the lovable cats who kept me going to reach this undecided voter with just a couple days left before election day.
Again, it felt like friendly cats were placed in my path when I canvassed that fall to keep my spirit strong. Cats live in their own worlds, but it almost felt like they wanted American democracy to succeed. I doubt there is any research on this. However, cats probably thrive better in democracies than authoritarian governments, and cats probably somehow know this.
The stress of canvassing when someone threatened to call the police on me
If friendly cats were one of the best perks of canvassing, the angry people were the worst part of the job. On Saturday, September 14th, I had a busy day canvassing in Gresham, Oregon. Many homeowners had doorbell cameras. That makes my job as a canvasser easier. I ring the doorbell camera, and the homeowner looks on their smart phone app to see who is at their door. Most people can tell I am a political canvasser, so they don’t answer the door. I made sure I held up my candidate slate card lit so they can clearly see what I am placing at their door, and then I left. The doorbell cameras saved me from many uncomfortable conversations with homeowners who don’t want to talk with me.
Occasionally, someone would answer the voice command speaker to ask me who I was and what I wanted. I explained I was leaving behind voter information about the election. On this day, the homeowner on the speaker said, ‘Don’t leave anything at my door!’
At this point, I canvassed full time for about a month. I was tired of many people slamming their doors in my face and being rude. I approached every door being humble and friendly. Yet, it felt like I lost a bit of my soul every time a person was antagonistic with me. When the person snarled, ‘Don’t leave anything at my door,’ I had enough of people being nasty with me, so I left the campaign lit at his door anyway.
He then yelled over the speaker, “I am going to call the cops on you!”
My thinking was: ‘Good ahead! I worked on the spring 2024 Gresham Safety ballot imitative for more funding for police and firefighters. The big reason for that ballot measure was that Gresham Police was understaffed and overworked. It took on average around 30 minutes for them to respond to 911 residential calls. Even then, it could take longer due to other robberies and violent crimes happening at the same time. I doubt they will make it a priority to respond to your complaint that someone left election information at your door without permission.’
I then canvassed other houses in this neighborhood. However, I felt paranoid the police would come get me. In fact, two Gresham Police cars drove by that afternoon, but they paid no attention to me. My heart level raced whenever I saw the Police cars thinking I would get busted. I then decided the stress of thinking the Police might confront me was too much. In the future, I would not be spiteful to homeowners who insisted to not eave anything at their door.
The next day, Sunday, September 15th, I had some voters yelling and acting hostile to me. For Monday, September 16th, Billy sent me turfs for the same streets I had canvassed in the last few weeks. I was worried about browbeating the same voters. I asked him if I could take Monday, September 16th and Tuesday, September 17th off work, and he readily agreed.
Stay tuned for for the next part of this blog:
Part 3: The Good and Bad Personal Moments canvassing in the autumn of 2024
