On the election campaign trail for Kamala - Alex Cole-Hamilton
Did you guys lose a bet?” asked the owner of a diner in Old Forge, Pennsylvania as we sat down for lunch and he learned we were from Scotland.
Old Forge is a typical rustbelt community in the suburbs of Scranton, it is well kept and welcoming, but it doesn’t get tourists.
This was our second full day of volunteering for the Kamala Harris campaign in one of the most hotly contested swing states in America. With Parliament in recess, I took leave, paid for flights and went with three friends to stay with my sister who lives an hour north of Scranton. Why? Because we all have a stake in this election. Its outcome will impact all of our lives.
I’d been to help Obama on similar terms in 2008 and knew roughly what to expect. You see, the fundamentals of on the ground campaigning are the same in democracies the world over. Field offices all look broadly similar, with posters, lists, envelopes and doughnut boxes cluttering almost every surface, I immediately felt at home.
The Harris/Walz campaign team we were attached to are all in their 20s, and with a steady stream of activists coming in from other states, like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, they are well geared to receive out of town help. They are talented and welcoming but they are utterly exhausted and driving hard for the finish line. They certainly put us to work in getting out the vote.
With over 1000 doors knocked across nine communities in Lackawanna County, PA, I got to see a lot of the Scranton area in its stunning autumnal beauty. These are warm, resilient communities, but in many ways, they have cause to feel left behind.
This is an exceptionally tight election, everyone knows that, but I’ve never seen tribalism run quite so deep before. Those houses without partisan lawn signs are in the minority and this election is dividing communities and even families, like never before.
A standout highlight for me was getting to meet, Kamala’s Vice Presidential running mate, Tim Walz, in person at a rally in Scranton, but above that I will never forget the warmth of the people I met on the doors of Pennsylvania.
My assessment? She can absolutely do it, but only if she mobilises the coalition she has built to vote. That was what we were there to do and going door to door getting out the vote, I felt a definite enthusiasm that is not always characteristic of US elections.
So what motivated me to go out there in the first place?
Well, Donald Trump has already committed the biggest assault on women’s reproductive rights in my lifetime. He won’t stop there. The LGBTQ+ community, asylum seekers, non-white Americans, the press and the fighting men and women of Ukraine will all suffer terribly if he wins.
So too will American democracy and the stability of the international alliance we have relied upon for our own peace and security for generations.
Unfettered by considerations of having to run for re-election and backed by a sympathetic Supreme Court, courtesy of the justices he appointed, a second Trump presidency would represent a dark future for the US and us all. I couldn’t just sit back and watch that happen.
Alex Cole-Hamilton is leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and MSP for Edinburgh Western