On the Harris/Walz Campaign Trail

Alexandra Hall Hall goes knocking on doors in her Washington DC neighbourhood and gets some surprising responses.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz arrive at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia for campaign events, 28 August 2024. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press/Alamy

I feel that so much is at stake, not just for America but for the whole world, in this year’s US Presidential elections, that for the first time in my life I have signed up as a campaign volunteer, for the Democrats, in my home state of Virginia. As my first task, after attending a pep talk at a donor’s house, I was given a list of houses within walking distance on which to call, to lobby for the Harris/Walz ticket.  

My neighbourhood is a relatively prosperous suburb just outside Washington DC, full of highly educated, white-collar professionals, including many government workers, which has steadily trended leftwards. So, I thought I was on fairly safe territory, and would receive a generally favourable reception from those on whose doors I knocked.  

Far from it.