You really never know what opportunities are going to come to you while in the city. A co-worker passed on some information to me last week about the D.C. Young Republicans (DCYRs) deployment to campaign in Connecticut this past weekend. Well, count me in! Two fellow TWC interns and I decided to make the commitment to go. By Friday evening we found ourselves at the Capitol Hill Club chatting with other DCYRs in preparation for the trip. The group hosted a happy hour and free buffet for all the Connecticut-goers before leaving.

A pre-departure happy hour at the National Republican Club was the start of an exciting weekend for Elise and two other TWC interns.

We packed up our luggage and hauled it to work with us on Friday so as soon as work let out we were ready to join the party. There was a lot of great energy within the group and everyone was brimming with excitement for the trip. After some yummy food we were off. We took a Greyhound bus all the way to Danbury, Connecticut. It took about 6 hours to get there Friday evening but those were 6 hours of laughs, new friends, and political discussions on the bus. After our arrival (about 2 a.m.) everyone was exhausted and hit the sack to prepare for a good day of campaigning on Saturday.

Saturday morning we rolled up to the Linda McMahon for Senate headquarters. We were greeted with Dunkin Donuts coffee, bagels, and an excited crew of volunteers ready to get out and show support for Linda. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton spoke to us to energize and mobilize the group. He told us a little bit about Danbury, a lot about Republican candidate McMahon, and a great deal about what being a Republican means to him. He talked about why the Connecticut Senate race has impact and started the morning off on a good note. We were then split into small groups and distributed maps, materials, and information sheets before being sent out into neighborhoods. Our plan was to knock on doors and encourage support for McMahon. Having never canvassed before, this was an exciting prospect for me.

Six hours on a bus with like-minded new friends!

I was given a packet with surveys and some door hangers and dropped off at my canvassing site - a neighborhood somewhere in the heart of Danbury. All I have to say is thank the lord for iPhone maps because I realized very quickly I am anything but a navigator. With the help of my phone, and some friendly dog-walkers I was able to reach my first destination. I went door-to-door asking people what the most important issues were for them during this election cycle and if Linda could count on their vote on Nov. 6th. The public response was much better than I was expecting and I quickly found that McMahon is extremely popular with the public, more so than I was expecting. I even had an hour long conversation on politics with one woman who was so kind to spend the time speaking with me. After about 2 hours of door-knocking we headed back to headquarters for lunch.

We tallied up all of our results from the morning and then munched on some yummy catered food the campaign provided for us. We talked with our new friends and rejuvenated ourselves for an energetic afternoon.

A little downtime in between canvassing efforts!

During the afternoon I tried my hand on the phone lines. People again, were more responsive than I had expected. We really had a great time laughing and making our way through the phone banks. Toward the end of the afternoon we were feverously making calls in attempts to meet the goals for the day. Others in the group were out covering neighborhood after neighborhood in order to make as many voter contacts as possible.

Elise and friends try their hand at phone-banking, a grassroots staple.

The first day of campaigning ended with pizza and another pep talk from the McMahon staff. Well the night didn't exactly end there. Even though it was already around 9 the group decided to head out to Molly Darcy's Irish Pub for a little relaxation and bonding time. We all had a great time talking, dancing, and getting to know one another. In the blink of an eye it was morning again and we were back on the campaign trail. We hit more doors and made more calls. Overall our group of 40 made almost 12,000 voter contacts and far exceeded the campaigns goals for the weekend. It was a really great experience and I plan to do more deployment trips and campaign volunteering throughout the semester.