The 2024 U.S. Election

By Frances Connoly, University of Maryland, United States

One of the first things that I did once the term had started was join the UMD College Democrats. I knew that this election was incredibly important, and that I was in the unique position of being in the states to witness it, so I wanted to get as involved as much as possible. Joining the dems was such a good decision. I’ve experienced so many new things and met lots of passionate people who have given me hope for America’s future!

Canvassing

For the election, the college dems were planning on being heavily involved in Angela Alsobrooks’s Senate Campaign. Maryland is a pretty safe blue state, but Alsobrooks was running against Republican Larry Hogan, who was the former Governor of Maryland and was very popular, so the race was closer than it should have been. Committed to knocking on doors every weekend, the dems was certainly the place to get involved!

Sunday 8th September

After going to a dems meeting, I signed up to canvass in Silver Springs.  We took the metro to get there, and then after a short training session, we went off. I had never even canvassed in the U.K. before, so knocking on doors in America was a little bit daunting! Luckily, I was partnered with the co-president, so I felt really comfortable. The area that we were targeting was in Chevvy Chase, and it was a very well-off area, so it was fascinating to wander around the suburbs and seeing how some Americans lived! The actual canvassing was not too difficult. All I had to do was knock on someone’s door, ask them a few questions, and then upload their answers to an app, so the campaign staff could collect and analyse the data. Once we had done this for an hour or so, and knocked on over 50 doors, my partner and I met up with the rest of the dems and got some lunch!

Saturday 28th September

On that day, we ventured to Towson for a campaign launch! It was a pretty decent event, and we all got free Angela Alsobrooks t-shirts (always a bonus). It was a super-hot day, but that didn’t matter because we actually got to meet Angela! She was joined by the County Executive, now Congressman Johnny O, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and Comptroller Brooke Lierman. They all spoke, and it was pretty inspiring to witness! There was a large group of us from UMD, and it felt amazing to be with a group of likeminded people who cared about the country they lived in and wanted to make a difference. After the event, we did some more door-knocking, which was a great experience again! The thing I was always the most worried about with canvassing was that someone would notice my accent and get annoyed that I, a Brit, was talking to them about their own country. Only one person was mentioned by accent, however, and the majority of people I spoke to were very respectful and engaged in a conversation with me. 

Saturday 26th October- Sunday 27th October

This week’s canvassing was a little bit different because we were going away for the whole weekend. There were 9 of us in total, so we took two cars and headed off to Salisbury, which is on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive, but I really enjoyed getting to see more of Maryland. We had to drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is known as one of the scariest bridges in America. As someone who hates heights, I didn’t enjoy that at all!  We left pretty early so that we could do a full day of canvassing, but when we got there we got free bagels and coffee from the dems in Sailsbury, so that woke us all up a bit more. We then went and knocked on some doors for a while, had lunch, and then knocked on more doors before the sun went in, and we headed back to the office. We were lucky enough that some people who were working on the campaign lived nearby and let us camp out in their apartments. They even took us out for dinner, which was very kind of them!

We went out and knocked on some more doors on Sunday morning before heading back to campus. Overall, we knocked on just over 1000 doors the entire weekend and I had some really positive conversations with voters. One little girl even gave me a hug!

Weekly Meetings

I also went to the dems’ weekly meetings, where they would discuss their plans for the future and also hold phone banking sessions. The dems also screened the Harris vs Trump debate and the Walz vs Vance debate. The Harris vs Trump debate was a fascinating watch, because it felt less like a debate and more like entertainment. It was very clear that Harris won the debate, and I thought she had some very strong moments! The Walz vs Vance debate was also a good watch, but I thought that the Presidential debate was more interesting.

The weekly meetings were a great way for me to talk to people about how they were feeling about the election. There was definitely a sense of urgency as this election was probably the most important one of their lives so far.

Election Day

Tuesday the 5th of November 2024 is likely to be remembered as a historic day, but unfortunately (in my opinion) not for very good reasons. The day largely felt like every other day, and because most polls were open until at least 8:00pm, we wouldn’t know anything until later. I planned on watching the results with the college dems as we had been invited to Angela Alsobrooks’s official election party. It was just off campus in the ballroom of a hotel, so a group of us went together. Walking in was insane-it was a sea of neon green! There were so many people there and the atmosphere was electric. At this point in the night, people were still quite hopeful, and there were screens around the room so we could watch the results as they came in. The Maryland Senate race was called around 10pm, and the cheers when Alsobrooks was called as the new Senator for Maryland were deafening! There were lots of people who spoke, including Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland, and, of course, Angela Alsobrooks herself. By the time she was announced, however, more results across the country had begun to be announced and things were not looking good.

We then left the Alsobrooks event and headed over to the co-president’s apartment to continue to watch the results. It was here that the night really turned and people’s prior enthusiasm quickly dissipated. As more and more results came in, it was looking more and more likely that Trump would win. I, alongside the others, got increasingly more anxious as the results were announced, and by half 1 in the morning it was looking quite clear that Trump would win, so I headed home. Whilst I enjoyed being able to experience the election in real time with people that had been directly involved in it, watching the results with the college dems was just heart-breaking, and I hope that they never have to feel that way on an election night again.

The day after the election was rough, and waking up to the news that Trump was the President-elect was so disheartening. Things were very sullen on campus, and it almost felt as if everyone was in mourning. Classes were particularly hard, as naturally, the election was all people could talk and think about. The dems had a meeting in the evening and I went along to see how everybody was doing. One of the co-presidents gave a very impassioned speech, and it was obvious to me that everyone in the room cared so deeply. Although people were pretty distraught, the meeting ended on a hopeful note.

Despite the fact that the results of the 2024 election were not the ones that we had hoped or worked for, my experience with the college dems canvassing for Angela Alsobrooks was incredible. As an American Studies student, the best way for me to learn about America has been to get as involved as I can in American life, and the dems have been brilliant for letting me doing that. I even received the “All-American” award at the last meeting of the fall semester!