A Special Day in Williamsburg
Tomorrow can be better than today.
As New York’s primary election (June 23rd, 2026) draws ever closer, what was the looming spectre of GOTV, is now upon us. Knowing our persuasion window is in its final days, I took a vacation day from work on Wednesday, June 10th, 2026, to campaign for Claire Valdez. In the last several weeks, the rising heat of the race in NY-7 has been palpable. The gloves have come off as each candidate seeks to press perceived existing advantages, or open up a new front in the hopes of finding an edge. Canvassers abound across the district, lit can be seen left on doorsteps, mailers protrude from mailboxes, supporters of campaigns are increasingly willing to dip their toes in the waters of direct confrontation on social media as they see their cause come under fire, and everyone with skin in the game is digging as deep as possible into their wallets, time, and efforts. The end of what has become a decisive campaign for the future of the left in the United States, is near.
I arrived in Williamsburg around noon. Having reached out to Jeremiah to secure a turf number and lit (one of my go-to field leads ever since my first April canvasses in Sunnyside), I’d have to go Claire HQ to pick up what I need. Jeremiah gave me the contact info for Valdez Field staff members Celia and Tanya, so I could inform them of my arrival ahead of time. I biked over from the Bedford Ave subway station, feeling the temperature rising as the mid-day sun came out and was glad to have chosen for the day my favorite blue, floral shorts. Upon entering HQ, the diverse array of people moving about the hustle and bustle of their work days was inspiring to take in. It was clean, casual, and just well-furnished enough to really feel comfortable, but not overly-crowded.
Finding my way in, I met Tanya and Ujji, who were both hard at work with their administrative tasks that keep the campaign running. In addition to meeting a few other people whose names I can’t remember offhand (feeling super guilty right now), I got to say hi to Austin Warrington, Deputy Campaign Manager, who I had met at a previous Williamsburg canvass. We all chatted for a bit before I received my turf number and lit. It felt like a privilege to get a tiny glimpse into the day to day lives of these people, each at the forefront of delivering us a better society. I took my turf and headed out.
Turf One- Greenpoint-Williamsburg Border, Midday
Over the next three and a half hours, I had 111 attempts with 84 not homes, five 1s, twelve 3s and a bunch of people I ID’d as having moved. A pretty good shift for midday, honestly. I managed to catch some people working from home, as also happened when I was in Harlem a few weeks ago for a midday turf. None of them had a ton of time to chat, but they all had just enough to tell me they were 100% in for Claire already, or would really consider what I was able to squeeze into the 30-60 seconds of time they so generously gave me of their work day. It wasn’t long before I came across my first picture-worthy moment. So as to be respectful to this candidate and their canvasser, I covered their literature in the below pic.
I took this photo because this building door was actually open. You just had to push it. Because I gave it a simple try, I got in. For clarity to non-canvassers, canvassing is a protected activity, legally speaking. While it may seem strange or invasive to write about “getting-in” to buildings or “finding” people, it’s simply a core part of political outreach that we always handle with care and respect. In writing this, I seek to shed good-natured light on what goes into it. Anyway, it makes all the difference being able to knock on actual doors inside of a building and speak to people as opposed to leaving lit at the outside door where it blows away or gets thrown out far more often. Experienced canvassers may get into a building and have fundamentally more substantive and productive outreach. DSA canvassers are now getting quite experienced. Multiply this instance on a mass scale, and the results end up being legitimately tangible on the ground when measured up against other canvassers (broadly speaking, especially paid canvassers). This is a hugely under-estimated factor in mainstream political analysis of the way DSA members really put in their hearts and souls to the movement, building after building, door after door.
There are always at least a fair number of not homes and a lot of DSA members take pride in finding a thoughtful place to leave the lit other than just on the ground, if possible. I’m one of them! In the door is always fine, but if a more fun option is available, why not use it? I took these pics because they genuinely made me happy in a strange way. In the DSA, I have found friendship, purpose, and a belonging I’ve sought my whole life. I love this movement. And I honestly believe some people out there who come home to fun placement like this pick up on that, if only just a little bit. Check it out.
Overall, many of my 3s knew there was some vote coming up and had at least seen a poster or heard something about Claire. There were still some people who didn’t know at all there was an election coming up and they knew no candidates whatsoever. In many cases, I could see our conversations making a difference, with many people genuinly glad to have heard about it. In other cases, I ID’d existing Claire supporters out in the wild who weren’t in our universe yet. This is critical work because now we can ensure they are reached in GOTV and turned out to vote. As for the 3s, it is my personal theory that if these 3s are turned out to the polls, they will vote Claire. The pleasant conversations, respect they had for me putting in this effort on behalf of the movement, and the simple fact we are most often the campaign making this type of high quality contact at doors, is often enough to seal the deal for most people come election day. It was a decent turf and a fun time.
Turf Two- Central Williamsburg, Early Evening
After finishing my first turf around 4:15pm, I found a spot to post up, charge my phone, and eat a salad while waiting for my 5:30pm canvass. After some rest time, I biked south to Central Williamsburg for turf number two of the day. One of the field leads was my friend, Christian Long, and it was awesome to see him. He and his co-lead did a good job with the canvass training and our group of around 10 promptly set out.
My second turf ended with forty-nine attempts, six 1s, two 2s, six 3s, and one 5. that brought my total for the day to exactly 150 attempts, eleven 1s, two 2s, eighteen 3s, and one 5 across the two turfs. This turf was similar to my first one in how the responses and conversations went, but there were a few exceptions. More people were home from work with actual time to talk, and it showed in the results. I took a picture of this buzzer below (and blocked out the name) because it was the first time I’ve ever gotten a 1 entirely over a buzzer without ever speaking to the voter face to face.
After they asked who I was, it went like this:
Me: “My name is Andrew and I’m supporting Claire Valdez for Congress! The election starts Saturday, do you have a few minutes to talk about it?”
Younger Voter: “Claire Valdez? Oh yeah I’m definitely for her. I’m busy right now, but I’ll 100% be out to vote. She has my support.”
I asked if it was okay to leave a piece of lit and if they could tell friends as well, to which they said yes. Yet another case where we were able to identify an organic supporter out in the wild and get them in our universe just in time for GOTV.
This next pic was a cool spooky basement hallway that led to an apartment on my list! I knocked and spoke to a young guy around my age who had no idea an election was coming. He had not heard of anybody before. He said Claire’s opposition to ICE in NYC is what stood to him on the lit and he committed to vote for her. Honestly, he almost seemed a little shocked someone actually cared enough to find their way down to that basement apartment and chat. We had a genuinly really solid talk.
After many hundreds of doors in NY-7 this cycle, I finally encountered my first person (a very kind middle aged woman) who opened the door and right away said “Hey sorry, I’m voting for Antonio and don’t want to waste your time.”
It was so pleasant, I thanked her for letting me know and asked her if I could ask how she knew him, how she made up her mind. I’m always curious about these sorts of things. She said he had grown up around that part of Williamsburg and she just.. knew him. So that’s how she would vote. It was genuinely wonderful how nice it was.
The thing is, I’m increasingly skeptical those people will be enough on its own for Antonio to win the race. Nobody can personally know the large number of votes needed to win a race of this scale on that alone. Personal history with a relatively small number of people, when considering a Congressional-level sample size, can only go so far…..
Finally, I had two special, memorable conversations on this turf. The first was with a gender-fluid person sort of disengaged with the political process and not a DSA member. Imagine my shock when I go to knock on her and hear the voice of Hasan Piker coming from her apartment. She opened up and was listening to his stream right then. She had already heard of Claire from Hasan, and yet, she was just out in wild, totally un-IDd. We hit it off and are in touch about connecting them more with DSA. She is my second “Hasan Piker Voter” I’ve discovered in the wild so far this cycle. Go figure.
The second person was actually the last door I was going to knock, before going to meet the squad to watch Game 4 of Knicks-Spurs. I walked down a few stairs to another basement apartment. She was a 24 year old woman and she seemed like one of us, honestly. She’d actually talked briefly to a Julie Won canvasser earlier that day. Having kept the flyer, she showed it to me. At first, I talked about how special I felt Claire is and after a few minutes she sorta laughed and said “Don’t worry dude, I was probably gonna go for her anyway, but this did it.”
However, her and I just kept talking. And then talking even more. After asking me if I lived in the area, I explained to her that I had come from the Hudson Valley for the day. She was legitimately shocked, but appreciative, that there are people who want a better world that badly. Eventually, we got to Cuba. Housing. Corporate power. Gaza. How there is money for the war in Iran, but nothing else. How these are all conscious choices, we, as a society, make. How there are different kinds of Democrats. How we can do better than what Progressive meant 5, 10, 30 years ago. How the status quo of the past, that mainstream Democratic leadership has been apart of, has led the world to such a dark, broken place. I shared the hope Claire, Zohran, AOC, and the DSA give me. I took this whole vacation day to do this work because the world doesn’t have to be like this. We don’t have to accept this. We have a chance to CHOOSE something better in this very district, on this very block, right here, right now. Claire Valdez is the opportunity for a better tomorrow. I actually said all this to her.
I think I’ll never forget the 10-15 seconds of silence that passed between us as she took in the gravity of this moment. Like it was dawning on her, in real time, what this chance is, for her, for me, for you… for all of us. Then, she said, “Wow… You’re right….. I’ll vote for her. And I’ll tell my friends too. They’ll want to know. Thank you for coming here.” We shook hands. And said farewell.
I walked back up the stairs from her apartment and emerged, streetside. The sun was beginning to set, the air getting cooler. It was simply gorgeous. After 150 attempts in a day, I closed MiniVAN. Making my way to Crystal Lake through the bustling heart of Williamsburg to finally hang with my comrades Sebastian, Randy, Christian, Michael, Ceilidh, Albo, Nathan, and Tanya, to catch Game 4, I felt strangely emotional. As if… something transformative is about to happen. As if…. we are part of something special. As if every, single day being one small part of this movement, where we hold eachother in trust, friendship, and joy, is a special day. As I strolled past buildings, scents of food, people clad in blue and orange, I suddenly felt an unmistakable sense of destiny swirling around NY-7. Like a convergence point of time and space is upon us, multiple different timelines for the future, hanging in the balance. I envisioned Claire giving a speech of aspiration, justice, compassionate strength, and victory. The possibility of a brighter future, just within our grasp. All of us coming together in a beautiful mosaic of hope over the last seven months, so when the sun rises on the morning of June 24th, 2026, the light of a better tomorrow will shine, far and wide.
