Several left-wing groups from Massachusetts are organizing two canvassing trips down to North Carolina to campaign for Democratic congressional candidate Dan McCready ahead of his special election on September 10th.
Alix Smullin, a longtime "political activist" who has donated thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates including $1,970 to McCready's campaign, is organizing two trips on the progressive online platform, Action Network, which is used by progressive groups and activists to organize events around the United States.
The first trip will be August 23rd through the 25th. The second trip will be September 5th through the 10th.
"Travel to Waxhaw, NC to Canvass for Dan McCready (NC-09) ahead of the September 10 special election," the event details read. "Dan McCready's redo election in NC-09 on September 10 is the most important Congressional election of 2019. Early voting begins on August 21. Join others from the Boston area for the campaign's big push weekend canvassing to Get Out the Vote."
"Waxhaw is very close to Charlotte and the areas we will canvass are suburban neighborhoods with many transplants from the Northeast," the event details continue. "We will coordinate the canvassers from MA to maximize efficiency of travel, car rental, and housing - and to make sure we also have a great time!"
Some of the groups sponsoring the trips are the Greater Boston and North Shore/Cape Ann chapters of Swing Left. The Swing Left PAC launched in response to Hillary's Clinton's failed 2016 campaign and is dedicated to helping Democratic politicians in swing districts.
During the second quarter of 2019, Swing Left received $50,000 from Hillary Clinton's 501(c)4 non-profit, Onward Together, which is dedicated to "advancing progressive values." The PAC also received $45,000 from actress Meryl Streep, $495,000 from billionaire Nicholas Pritzker, and $250,000 from hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick, according to the FEC website.
The canvassing trip down to North Carolina is also sponsored by the Massachusetts Statewide chapter of Indivisible, which is a national progressive "grassroots" groups dedicated to fighting against "racism, authoritarianism, and corruption." Indivisible, which organized multiple manufactured chaotic Republican town halls in 2017, was one of the progressive groups who put pressure on the 2020 Democratic candidates to support the decriminalization of illegal border crossings. The group also put pressure on House Democrats earlier this year to investigate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
North Carolina's 9th Congressional District is currently vacant after supporters of Republican candidate Mark Harris committed election fraud, resulting in the state election board not certifying the results of the 2018 election. Harris would go on to lose to state representative Dan Bishop in the Republican primary. McCready was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
"The most recently released poll in this race, conducted in mid-July, came from McCready’s campaign," according to RollCall. "It showed the race tied, with each candidate at 46 percent."
Correction 8/14/19: Earlier version of this post stated Harris lost to Bishop in the primary. Harris decided to not run in the primary.