If they win back Congress Democrats may well remember 2026 as the Year of the Volunteer.

An expansive legion of everyday citizens has sprung up across battleground states, fueled by people determined to turn their anger and anxiety into action at a time when democracy —including the right to vote— seems at risk.

“They know what’s happening, and they want to take actions that feels on par with the gravity of this moment,” said Yasmin Radjy, a former Obama organizer who now heads the grassroots group Swing Left, which is working to put 12 Democrats in the Senate and 66 in the House.

Democratic organizers said volunteers are as overwhelmed and exhausted as they are hopeful. They’re energized by the possibility that Democrats could win control of Congress by netting at least three seats in the House and four in the Senate.

“It’s what gives them purpose,” Radjy said. And they’re helping candidates reach voters who were ignored in previous elections.

“We talk to people way too late. We talk to them in a way that is just way too transactional. We’re basically like, ‘Hey, I’m here with the Democrats. Will you vote for us?’”Radjy said of her strategy to help candidates not just ask — but listen, too.

Democrats are playing an aggressive ground game in the race for Congress, putting Republicans on defense on their own home turfs that have long been reliably red, including in Texas, Iowa and Kansas But perhaps nowhere is the show of force more remarkable than in Alaska, where Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola has a slight edge over GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, according to MS NOW polling data. Since becoming a state in 1959, Alaska has voted for a Democrat for president just once — in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson was re-elected in a landslide. Peltola credits her foot soldiers.

“This cycle we have over 15,000 Alaskans volunteering,” Peltola said to an eruption of cheers at a campaign rally in Anchorage. She singled out a woman who told her she had never done anything political in her life but vote: “And she had already gone 12 times door knocking.”The sheer number of volunteers this year is record-breaking, multiple organizers said. Democratic Senate campaigns have tallied 20,000 sign-ups in Iowa, 18,000 in Michigan and 17,500 in Alaska.

In Texas, James Talarico said his campaign has more than 60,000 volunteers knocking on doors and working phones to battle Ken Paxton and the many millions of dollars that are being donated to support him in this toss-up race.

Elon Musk dropped an eye-popping $158 million to support Paxton in just the last month. This is partially thanks to the Supreme Court opening the floodgates to dark money and deep-pocketed billionaires. But Democrats knew after the 2024 election that they needed a better midterm strategy. So they’re banking on a powerful, targeted ground game to help mitigate the GOP’s cash infusion.

“Yes, big money is powerful,” Talarico told MS NOW, but he insisted that “we’re going to go everywhere and talk to everyone.”He drew huge cheers at a recent Fort Worth rally when he said, “Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat in Texas. We will let Elon Musk know that Texas is not for sale.”Volunteers are working overtime and putting in many miles in the wild splendor of Alaska, where the continent’s tallest peak has been blanketed in snow for a month already.

They do more than show up and knock on doors. They trek, ride — and even fly across frozen tundra — to reach voters in areas previously thought of as not worth the time, money or effort.

As Trump’s popularity has sunk to record lows and polls show Democrats have a fighting chance of winning in deep-red MAGA territory once thought off limits, tens of thousands of eager volunteers are doing what it takes to reach fellow voters.

“The only thing that matters in Alaska is getting out talking to Alaskans,” Peltola said.

One thing they’re talking about as winter approaches is the skyrocketing cost of fuel to heat homes, drives cars and operate generators.

Candidates in Alaska, as well as their canvassers, travel by ATVs, boats and planes to knock on doors in a state where 82% of communities are not reachable by road.

Peltola’s campaign said she’s leading by example. Her social media feed is filled with photos from the more than 50 towns and communities where she’s met with voters. It’s time-consuming and expensive, but Peltola believes it’s worth it.

Volunteer Greg DeArmond, canvassing in a sparsely populated area of Wasilla, agreed, saying, “We know it’s going to be very close and we’re trying to motivate each and every person that we can to get out and vote.”In Ohio, the grassroots group “Mobilize the Vote” trained 150 volunteers to voters in urban neighborhoods that have long been ignored. They’re hoping to lead a turnaround in deep-blue Cleveland, where Black turnout has dropped in every presidential election since Barack Obama.

Nicki Herrera, who leads the trainings, has been urging volunteers to tell disaffected voters: “If you stay out, you’re letting other people make decisions for you.”

In Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, the Democratic Chair David Brock told MS NOW it’s the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor people power that “can increase turnout anywhere from five to 10%, and that was true in the primary this year.”Two years ago, three Senate races in traditional battlegrounds were decided by less than 1% of the vote.

The possibility of helping to close such a small gap for Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and Democrats up and down the ballot, is all the motivation volunteer Cindy Demsey needs.

“People are feeling the impact. Maybe they don’t understand NATO, but they know their gas prices are high,” she said. “People, when something affects them, then their eyes open. So I’m hopeful.”

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