If you have ever canvassed — gone door-to-door for a candidate, you know that it’s mostly a thankless job. You have to prepare yourself to be rejected, so you need a strong constitution. You also need a strong passion for the candidate. And, to canvas, you need someone in charge that knows the territory like the back of their hand.

Live: Election Day 2024 coverage of LGBTQ+ issues

Passion and perseverance is key. You get doors slammed in your face, or some people take the opportunity to treat your visit as a grievance session. Yes, you get folks who answer their doors who are as excited as you are, and that makes it all rewarding.

For the last few weeks, everyone was leaning toward the fact that the election might come down to who wins Pennsylvania. More specifically, Pennsylvania is likely to come down to who wins in Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and the surrounding area. That’s my hometown.

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As such, Elon Musk moved there, and took it upon himself to lead canvassing by paying Tom, Dick and Harry’s to go door-to-door. Democratic sources on the ground have told The Advocate for the last two weeks that they have not seen any canvassers for former President Donald Trump. And there are reports that the canvassers that were hired by Musk’s team checked a few boxes, and then went about their day.

They were just doing it for a paycheck, and that is not what canvassing is about. When you hire people who don’t have a vested interest in the candidate, they could care less about passion and perseverance.

If Vice President Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania, and the western part of the state, it will validate that outsourcing canvassers for the critical job of going door-to-door is an epic failure.