This afternoon I spoke with field organizer John Soyka. During the 2022 election, he was a field organizer for the PA Democratic Party. He was responsible for Cambria, Indiana, Westmoreland, and Armstrong Counties with nine races to cover from U.S. Senate and Governor to the State House.
We discussed the data from the last election. Abortion was the most frequently cited issue by democratic voters followed by inflation. Seventy eight percent of the abortion voters favored Fetterman in the last election while 72% of inflation voters favored Oz for the U.S. Senate.
I pointed out to him that even though few precincts in Cambria County voter for Fetterman (all in Johnstown), the margin there was larger for him than it was for Biden or Clinton. I asked him if this was a sign of political realignment in the area. He said it was too early to say for sure. The 2024 election would be a better indicator.
We also spoke of our past work with the Bernie Sanders campaign. He was a student organizer in 2020 and I was an organizer in 2016 an 2020. We spoke of how the idealism of your voters and organizers can dissipate when confronted with the reality of politics. The challenge is to keep spirits up.
Finally we spoke of upcoming elections in the area from school board to statewide judicial races. I spoke of my recent post on Mom’s for Liberty and their efforts to get “woke” curricula banned. He said that these groups are funded by Trump PACS.
We spoke of other issues which you can see in the video above. Field organizer John Soyka had a successful 2022 campaign. I’m sure he will be successful in the future.