Early Voting Starts Saturday at Houghton City Center

All Houghton County voters - who have not voted by mail already - are eligible to vote at the county’s centralized Early Voting site: Houghton City Center, Room 203. Early Voting starts Saturday at 8 AM. If you have questions about Early Voting call the County Clerk’s office at 906-482-1150.

An Important Voting Reminder

We're very happy if you vote the straight Democratic ticket. If you do, please -

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE THE NONPARTISAN SECTION! 

We're endorsing good strong candidates for Michigan Supreme Court - Thomas and Bolden - and for Houghton City Council: Cole, Irizarry, and Leddy.  We have signs for both races, so if you put one up next to your Democratic candidate signs, that will help your neighbors know about their progressive bona fides.

Office Hours

Monday: 5 to 7 PM

Tuesday: 4 to 7 PM

Wednesday: 5 to 7 PM

Thursday: 3 to 8 PM

Friday: 5:30 to 7:30 PM

Saturday: 10 AM to 8 PM

 323 Quincy Street, Hancock 

Yard Signs

DO SOMETHING - Dook Knocking & Other Opportunities

DOOR KNOCKING:

Come join us again this week to get out the vote for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and other Dems up and down the ticket! We're meeting in Cyberia cafe and knocking Dem and Dem-leaning addresses in Houghton. A friendly face at the door is a proven way to turn non-voters into voters!

Two opportunities again this week:

• Thursday October 24 at 5:30 PM - sign up here

• Saturday October 26 at 4 PM - sign up here

To RSVP email [email protected] or sign up via Mobilize using the links above.

POSTCARDING: We have wrapped up our postcard efforts for this election season and are encouraging all of our postcard senders to volunteer for door knocking! Let’s go knock on doors.

VOLUNTEER FROM HOME: 

Phone Banking: We encourage you to join the Harris-Walz Voter Protection Phone Bank. This effort reaches out to Democratic voters in states like Georgia where Republicans are “cleaning” the voter rolls and inactivating eligible voters. These voters are never informed they’ve been removed from the rolls. You’ll let them know they have been inactivated, and share how they can re-register before they go to the polls. Multiple opportunities are available daily through November. Click here to see the schedule and volunteer.

Voter Registration in Michigan: If you want to help out closer to home the Voter Registration Chase effort from the group Rust Belt Rising may be of interest to you. You’ll call fellow Michiganders as a follow-up to voter registration mailers. The people you will call would likely vote Democratic but are unregistered at their current address. Click here for more information and to sign up for one of the virtual training sessions available this month.

BE A NONPARTISAN ELECTION CHALLENGER OR POLL MONITOR WITH PTV: Promote the Vote (PTV) is offering training and credentialing for individuals interested in being nonpartisan election challengers or poll monitors.

From their website: “As our eyes and ears on the ground, nonpartisan challengers and poll monitors are stationed at polling places, early voting sites, and absentee counting boards … to monitor the election process. Our pro-voter volunteers make sure eligible voters can cast their ballots, free from interference and voter intimidation.”

Learn more and sign up for one of the many available remote training sessions on the PTV event web page.

Chasten Buttigieg Visit

Our Meet & Greet with Chasten Buttigieg on Saturday was well attended, with 60 some people turning out to hear him speak. Thank you to everyone who turned out!

Chasten talked to us at length about how we are standing up to fight together - and for each other - to make the future we all want to see. He urged us all to get out and knock on doors in the final days of the campaign.

There are still slots available to door knock with us - go to https://www.mobilize.us/ and search for "Houghton County Dems" (or us the links in the DO SOMETHING item above) to volunteer! Because when we fight, we win!

Read the Daily Mining Gazette’s article about Chasten’s visit here.

On the Campaign Trail

UPDATES FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TRAIL

ON THE ROAD WITH HARRIS WALZ

A highlight from last week’s campaigning has to be the VP’s interview on Fox News, where she faced a combative interviewer who she capably handled. Her performance led Pete Buttigieg, a frequent guest on Fox News programming to say that he’s “really proud of her”. It also led Saturday Night Live to feature their take on the interview in their “cold open”.

As we enter the final two weeks of the campaign VP Harris, Governor Walz and their surrogates are going all out on the stump. To give you a sense of the volume of the campaign’s activities, here is a summary (not all inclusive) of Harris Walz rallies, speeches and appearances over the last week, including links to videos and news articles. It’s a long list:

MON OCT 14

• VP Harris unveils "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” at an event at the Legenderie Records and Coffee House in Erie PA.

• VP Harris holds a rally in Erie PA.

• Gov Walz rallies in Green Bay, where he’s introduced by Gov Whitmer & Gov Evers.

TUE OCT 15

• Gov Walz stopped in western PA - to give a speech on the campaign’s “Plan for Rural America” in Lawrence Co, PA and to attend two events in Pittsburgh.

• VP Harris is interviewed by syndicated radio host Charlamagne tha God

• President Biden rallies for Harris Walz at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 Training Center in Philadelphia.

• MN First Lady Gwen Walz rallies for Harris Walz in Harrisburg PA.

WED OCT 16

• VP Harris appears at Washington Crossing PA with Republicans for Harris.

• VP Harris sits down for what turns into a combative interview by Fox News host Bret Baier (see link above).

• The campaign announces that Gov Walz will appear on The View and The Daily Show on Monday Oct 21.

THUR OCT 17

• Mark Cuban joins VP Harris for a rally in La Crosse WI.

• VP Harris holds three campaign events in Wisconsin, including a rally in Green Bay.

• Former President Clinton rallies with Tim Walz in Durham NC, one of a number of NC stops for Clinton.

• A humorous video of VP Harris (along with Molly Shannon of SNL fame) is played at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York as the candidate herself campaigns in Wisconsin. Donald Trump, at the dinner, delivers vindictive remarks and a curse word or two.

• Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff rallies in Savannah GA.

FRI OCT 18

• VP Harris makes campaign stops in Grand Rapids, Lansing (UAW) and Oakland County.

• Former President Obama rallies for Harris Walz in Tucson AZ

• Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff rallies in Reno NV with actor Josh Gad.

• MN First Lady Gwen Walz attends Harris Walz fundraiser in Park City UT.

SAT OCT 19

• VP Harris holds Early Voter Events in Detroit with Lizzo and in Atlanta with Usher.

• Former President Obama rallies for Harris Walz in Las Vegas on the first day of early voting there.

• Gov Walz attends a fundraiser in Chicago, along with his daughter Hope, and holds a rally in Omaha NE.

• Mark Cuban holds a town hall for small business owners in Phoenix, pitches Harris' economic agenda

• Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff rallies in Yuma, AZ 

• MN First Lady Gwen Walz speaks in Reno as part of the Harris Walz campaign's Fighting for Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour. Her speech took place as hundreds gathered nearby for the annual Reno Women's March.

SUN OCT 20

• On her 60th birthday, VP Harris attends services and speaks at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, while Gov Walz attends Sunday church service and speaks at Victorious Believers Ministries near Saginaw.

• VP Harris sits down with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Atlanta for an interview on MSNBC’s Politics Nation program.

• Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff rallies in Grand Rapids, joined by Mark Cuban.

TRUMP CONTINUES BEING TRUMP

The Trump campaign has also been very active, yet it managed to continue to generate negative headlines over the last week.

One thing generating negative buzz - Trump has cancelled several interviews and appearances in the last week, and on Friday Politico reported that a Trump campaign advisor had blamed at least one cancellation on the former President’s exhaustion. Trump’s exhaustion then become publicly noticeable when the Harris campaign posted video showing Trump seemingly falling asleep during a campaign event.

Perhaps the Republican campaign might like Trump to do fewer appearances, as his gaffes have led to increasing press coverage questioning his age and mental acuity. His bizarre behavior swaying to music for almost 40 minutes during a town hall last week, calling himself the “father of IVF” during a Fox News town hall Wednesday, and his rambling story on Saturday about Arnold Palmer’s manhood certainly haven’t helped him. Articles questioning Trump’s mental competence have run in the Washington Post, Forbes and by NBC New York among other outlets.

AND YET ITS STILL A TIGHT RACE…

The polls remain tight and VP Harris continues to call herself and her running mate the underdogs in this election. One thing is certain - there is a great deal of interest and excitement this election season, as evidenced by the strong early voting numbers. Both the states of Georgia and North Carolina set records this past week for votes cast on the first day of early voting, though whether that helps the Democratic ticket remains to be seen.

But a tight race should energize us, not discourage us. The bottom line remains the same - we have to keep our focus on electing Kamala Harris. She is keeping her focus on the things that matter to Americans. As Coach Walz says, WE HAVE TO LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD. Remember - when we fight, we win, so let’s get back to work!

Our Next Monthly Meeting

HCDP Monthly Meetings: Unless otherwise communicated our monthly meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month. Potluck at 6 PM, Meeting at 7 PM. In the conference room at the Houghton Super 8, and by Zoom (starting at 7 PM).

NEXT MEETING: November 6th

Governmental & Community Meetings

WED OCT 23

The Houghton City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The Meeting Agenda can be found in the Searchable Document Center of the Council's website.