Democrat phone banking: Making every vote count
SEATTLE, Washington — With the 2024 presidential election seen as an extremely close one, supporters of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are scrambling to convince as many Americans as possible to cast their votes.
At the Seattle Labor Temple here, Harris’ supporters burned communication lines through phone banking to talk to people, particularly in the seven swing states.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, an ally of Harris from Washington’s 7th congressional district, led a team of 30 volunteers in convincing “apolitical and undecided” Americans.
“We are doing what we can. It is a close race and we have a good chance of winning. I want for us to win in a big way,” Jayapal said.
“I was in the Gallery on January 6, 2021. I was trapped in the Gallery when Donald Trump, as the sitting president of the United States, incited an insurrection,” she recalled.
Jayapal said volunteers are calling voters in the seven swing states - Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina - to vote for the Democrats.
“We want Democrats up and down the ballots, at the federal level, the state level, local level. What you’re seeing in this room tonight is all about making Kamala Harris get elected to the White House,” she said.
Team Jayapal has around 30 volunteers on Tuesday night, Oct. 29, among them, John Michael Bennett, 58, and his daughter Keely, 14.
The Bennetts claimed to have knocked on several doors and called on people to secure the country’s future.
“I am very confident of a win for Kamala. I believe we will make a big difference. I am fighting for my daughter’s future here,” Bennett said.
Team Jayapal has called 57,721 voters in swing states and while there were those who were not receptive to their calls, they pushed on.
“We’re in a fight for our country’s future,” they claimed.
Election officials said it could take more than a week or around 13 days to learn who won the presidential race and which party gains control of the US Senate.
The US State Department, together with the US Mission to ASEAN, and the East-West Center, organized a group of journalists from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for a coverage tour in Seattle and Washington, D.C. from October 26, to November 7, 2024.