Democrats are recruiting canvassers with “previous felony convictions” to knock on voters’ doors across battleground states including Michigan, Kansas, Ohio, and others, according to job listings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. The groups doing the hiring include the Unity & Justice Fund, which supports Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, along with the Outreach Team consulting firm and Planned Parenthood.
The job ads, posted on sites like Indeed and CareerBuilder, say the groups “strongly” encourage applicants from “underrepresented groups,” listing black people, indigenous people, women, LGBTQIA+ community members, and, yes, “people with previous felony convictions.” The ads declare, “We are committed to equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.” Nothing says grassroots democracy like sending a guy who can’t vote in some states to convince you to vote.
The canvassers would conduct “door to door contact” and have “one-on-one conversations” with voters at their homes, earning between $22 and $27 an hour. Campaigns hand canvassers voters’ names, addresses, and party affiliations, information that most states provide. The job postings Democrat canvassing felony recruits do not identify any felonies that would disqualify someone from the gig, and it’s unclear whether any background checks are conducted at all.
In Michigan, Unity & Justice Fund has paid $435,698 to the consulting firm Chase & Porter for canvassing work in Detroit to boost El-Sayed. Chase & Porter is owned by Mallak Beydoun, the chief of staff to Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun, a close El-Sayed ally. Here’s the kicker: Unity & Justice Fund is an affiliate of CAIR Action, the political arm of the pro-Hamas Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has donated $175,000 to the fund. So voters in Michigan might find a CAIR-backed, ex-con-recruited canvasser on their porch. Sleep tight.
Several major Democratic PACs have collectively paid $3,467,416 to the Outreach Team for canvassing across battleground Senate and House races. Planned Parenthood has paid the Outreach Team $300,000 to canvas for El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in one of the hottest Senate races in the country. The DSCC hired the same firm to canvas in Kansas for Democrat Adam Hamilton, who is challenging GOP incumbent Roger Marshall. Planned Parenthood Votes, funded in past years by George Soros and Michael Bloomberg, also cut the Outreach Team a check for $1,108,000 to canvas for North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper, plus another $93,750 for Florida candidate Angie Nixon.
In Iowa, a group funded heavily by Melinda French Gates has given $256,971 to the Outreach Team to canvas for Democratic Senate hopeful Josh Turek against Republican Ashley Hinson. In Ohio, Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio and For Our Future, a union-backed PAC, have together paid over $133,000 to canvas for Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown against Republican incumbent John Husted. The Outreach Team and Unity & Justice Fund did not respond to requests for comment, which is the kind of silence that really speaks volumes.
With Election Day closing in fast, these canvassing operations are set to ramp up across every state where Democrats are fighting for Senate seats. Republicans like Mike Rogers and Roger Marshall will be watching closely, and so will the voters who open their doors. Democrats are pulling out every stop, just maybe check the peephole first.
