On a hot sunny day in September, Elizabeth Posner and Mark Steen, two volunteers from Illinois, drove around the politically purplish city of Racine, Wis., with a stack of Democratic pamphlets at the ready.
Guided by an app with a list of registered voters, Steen stopped his Volkswagen on a quiet street where he and Posner started knocking on doors.
At a house with a yard sign reading Dogs for Harris Walz, they met Kevin Zirkelbach, 59, who told them he has been talking to his kids about how important it is to register to vote.
“Turnout is so critical, particularly here in Wisconsin,” Posner concurred. “I have three kids in their 20s, and I’m like, ‘You think your vote doesn’t matter? Every single vote matters.’”
They talked about how tight the last few elections were — and how much is at stake not just in Racine, but across the country. As Posner and Steen moved on, Zirkelbach told a WBEZ reporter that immigration and reproductive rights were the two most important issues driving his vote.
“I want people to have that choice so they can make the best medical decisions for them, instead of somebody in Washington making the decision for them,” Zirkelbach said.
Steen and Posner are among the hundreds of Democratic volunteers from the Chicago area who have spent weekends carpooling to bordering swing states, where political races — namely the presidential race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump — are much tighter than in Illinois.
Some of these volunteers work in government, are advocates for abortion rights, or are just civically minded families. Steen, 54, leads Wilmette-based No Regrets, a volunteer group trying to get out the vote for the Nov. 5 election.
Aidan Dee runs through canvassing strategies with a group of volunteers at the Racine County Democratic Party office in Racine, Wis. on Sept. 21.
Manuel Martinez/WBEZ
Posner, 62, is the volunteer board chairwoman of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action. She headed to Wisconsin this recent weekend with reproductive rights on her mind.
“I just cannot believe that I am past reproductive age, but that my children… have no rights, and certainly not the rights I had during my whole reproductive life,” Posner said.
Joe Biden defeated Trump for president in Illinois in 2020 with 74% of the vote in Cook County, and 58% of the vote statewide. But in Racine County, Trump bested Biden by just over 4,000 votes, election results show.
About 40 volunteers traveled to Racine with Steen and Posner as part of Operation Swing State, gathering first this early Saturday in north suburban Winnetka for coffee, carpooling assignments, and a mini-pep rally.
As volunteers circled up, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the “godmother” of Operation Swing State, stepped into the middle.
“You’ll probably hear once in a while from people who say, you know, no one has ever knocked on my door before,” Schakowsky said. “And we are doing thousands of knocks. How many have we done so far?”
“20,000,” said Patrick Hanley, president of the New Trier Democrats.
“20,000,” Schakowsky repeated. “Which could be the margin that would put us over the top. So going to swing states is so important.”
She mentioned one more thing: “Wisconsin doesn’t have the worst rules on abortion rights, but they’re pretty bad.”
This is the first presidential election since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. About 61% of voters prefer a federal law that would restore the right to an abortion, according to a September poll by KFF, a non-profit health policy organization.
A patchwork of states have banned abortion, driving more out-of-state patients to Illinois than to any other state to end a pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group that supports reproductive rights. So Illinois Democrats are in a unique position to focus on that urgent need and sway voters to pick candidates who would restore abortion access nationwide.
Back in Racine, Steen and Posner made their way around a neighborhood dotted with pumpkins and scarecrows, but not many political signs. When residents answered their doors, the volunteers asked each what they cared about.
Omar Correa, 43, told them he supports Trump “economic-wise, just keeping more money within the house.” His neighbor, Mike, 62, who declined to provide his last name, told them: “I care about the candidate that lies less.” And while he said he has voted across party lines in the past, he is not supporting Trump.
Steen and Posner talked up other local Democrats on the ballot, like U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, then when the conversation slowed, politely moved on.
Sometimes Steen’s wife and daughter have traveled with him, as he marveled at how transformative the effort has been.
“A lot of people talk about how divided the country is and how people are feeling very disconnected from one another,” Steen said. “This has been a great way to actually talk to people who can help me understand the personal face of opinions that aren’t my opinion.”
He recalled his wife and daughter meeting one man who answered his door wearing a “Super Dad” shirt, who told Steen’s wife he would support Trump because of Trump’s opposition to abortion.
“He was an incredibly nice guy,” Steen said his wife told him. “They had a great conversation. My wife still talks about how much fun it was talking to this guy, talking about their kids, sharing stories.
“They had a very different view on a topic, but they were all human beings that could connect with each other.”
For many who volunteer their time here, this is part of the goal — in this politically divisive climate, it’s about trying to make a connection.
“I have to remember living in the bubble I do in Chicago that we all have this shared, common humanity,” Posner said. “We can all agree to be civil and polite.”
Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County government for WBEZ.