Over the past several weeks, Claremont Students for Harris-Walz sent 25 students to Nevada for voter canvassing. During the weekends of Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, the students spent each day knocking on 40 to 50 doors to speak with potential Harris-Walz voters.
“I was kind of hesitant about it at first, but then the more that I thought about it, I was like, this would be like a really good opportunity,” Audrey Leatham PZ ’28, one of the student volunteers, said.
Leatham, who is from Minnesota, said that her volunteer efforts were partially inspired by vice presidential candidate and Minnesotan Governor Tim Walz’s ties to the state.
“I want to do what I can to have Governor Walz be a part of the White House,” Leatham said.
Another student who participated, Vera Rosenblum PZ ’28, said that she used her involvement as a way to cope with the pressure of the election.
“I did really feel like I had a lot of stress about the election and I wanted to be doing something productive about that stress and doing something to help the Harris campaign,” she said.
On the weekend of Oct. 25, 10 students drove with the local United Food and Commercial Workers 1428 labor union to Las Vegas. Upon arriving, students split into groups to canvas at labor union houses. Their main goals were to identify supporters of the Democratic campaign and to convince these supporters to vote.
15 students returned to Las Vegas on the weekend of Nov. 1. This time, they worked directly with the Harris-Walz campaign to canvas in various neighborhoods. Across both trips, students were met with mixed success rates.
“We knocked on a lot of doors where nobody answered and we’d just leave a flier,” Rosenblum said. “There were moments where it was a little frustrating because you want to be reaching more people.”
Still, Eli Jobrack Lundy CM ’27 — the trip’s organizer — said that many of those who did answer their doors praised the students for getting involved at such a young age. According to Lundy, this kind of connection was a big part of the experience.
“We wanted to provide 5C students with an opportunity to maximize their impact to this super, super, super important cause,” Lundy said. “The overall goal of canvassing, in general, no matter what you’re doing, is to connect with people who you believe have a good reason to agree with you and want to go through the candidate.”
The students on the trip reported overwhelmingly positive experiences, according to Lundy. For many, it was a way to make an impact and to contribute to a cause they strongly supported.
“It’s helping us ease our stress, knowing that we can at least do something to advocate for what we believe in and help create the change we want to see in this country,” Leatham said.
Lundy said that the purpose of the canvassing trips was to give 5C students a way to maximize their political impact in the election.
“It is the most important election that our generation has lived through,” Lundy said. “It will define our generation’s livelihoods in a lot of ways.”
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