Road to the White House 2020 Halley Hobbs

This trip has been absolutely amazing and life-changing! I'm so lucky that I was selected to be a part of this crazy intense 10 days. I'm sad to leave New Hampshire and all the new friends and connections I made. But I am also excited to get to work back in Florida. The fight isn't even close to over yet. I'm ready to make phone calls and knock on doors to GOTV for Pete! I am so proud of Pete winning Iowa and tying Bernie in New Hampshire. The future of our country hangs in the balance of this election; I'm so grateful to be a part of the movement!

Tuesday night was absolutely amazing. I did poll visibility with all my new friends from the campaign. Then we all went to Nashua Community College to watch the results from the New Hampshire Primary come in. Every time Pete went up in delegates the room went wild. He had an amazing speech and it was a once in a lifetime experience being there cheering on my candidate. This trip has truly been the best ten days of my life.

Tuesday is the day that we had been working towards all week and a half. We woke up before the crack of dawn around 5 AM. We drove all the way to Hopkinton High School which was a polling location that Pete was planning to visit at 7 AM. I’m so glad we were able to make it because I was able to get a selfie with him and he brought us donuts!   Next, we went to Dunkin Donuts and on our way out of town we spotted this cute, covered bridge. JSM wanted to take a picture so we pulled over. While trying to take the picture a nice gentleman pulled over to offer to take the picture for us. I asked him if he was planning on voting and he said “yes”. When I asked who he was voting for he told me he was undecided. So, I told him a little about Pete and I got his phone number and sent him videos of Pete speaking from the rally the night before in Nashua. After getting to the Manchester office we got to work on the phones calling to see if people had a plan for getting to

  Monday morning, I was interviewed by KCRA, which is a news channel in California. They asked me questions about what it was like to work on a presidential campaign. Since there was a Trump rally across the street from our main office on Elm Street in Manchester and roads were closed, we went to a different #teampete location which was actually someone’s home. A Pete supporter who decided very early on that she wanted to offer up the space she has for volunteers to come and get their turf packages, warm up, and eat some good food.                                    Also, I am not sure if it was an endorsement or just an observation of Ashton Kutcher’s, but he tweeted “Looks like in the end Iowa had the same impression of Pete that I did. He’s smart, practical, and interested in serving everyone.” Sounds like an endorsement to me! Monday night I went to Pete’s last GOTV rally before the vote on February 11 th . He did so good. His message was spot on. I was fortunate en

Sunday night was amazing! A small group of us USFSP students who are interested in a possible career in foreign service went to former ambassador to Denmark, Dick Swett’s house for a dinner party. I had never been to a party that was anything like this before. First of all, the food was amazing, especially the chocolate mousse!! But it was so interesting to be able to talk to people from all different backgrounds. Though we are all democrats we are not all for the same candidate. It was eye-opening hearing from people that have so much knowledge and experience in the political field. One of the main takeaways I got from the dialogue was that it is extremely difficult to beat an incumbent up for re-election during times of a good economy.

Sunday both Annie Kuster and Michael J. Fox came back into the office to share with us again why they are on team Pete. I also went canvassing in Manchester for a few hours. Was able to have some pretty good conversations with undecided voters. Rep. Don Beyer from Virginia also stopped by the office to share why he supports Pete Buttigieg for president. So many people had brought us in pizza to eat that we had too much. We did not want it to go to waste so we went out in the cold to offer it to the Trump supporters who had camped outside the SNHU arena the day before the Trump rally there. Following the rules of the road!! Michael J. Fox Rep. Annie Kuster Rep. Don Beyer

Saturday was such a fun day! I met some amazing volunteers and Michael J. Fox!! Saturday the entire class went to the 100 Club Dinner. That was an amazing event where we were able to hear from all the candidates in person. I was so impressed that Pete had the biggest section there. It made me so proud to be on team Pete. I even made some new friends, Lily and Nic. While we were at the 100 Club Dinner, we were able to shake Pete’s hand after he spoke and get a picture with his New Hampshire Political Director. Not to mention they were handing out a lot of free merch! I also met Pat who is one of Pete’s biggest supporters.  

On Friday we did office work in morning for a little bit, then we went to St. Ansel m college for debate visibility. It was so cold but we stood out on the street for about 5 hours before the debate just holding up Pete 2020 signs next to people from other campaigns. It had to be the coldest I’ve ever been in my entire life, but I honestly would not have wanted to be anywhere else. It was an amazing experience! After we got back to the hotel, I watched the CNN debate.

Thursday, we went to St. Anselm college for a tour. It had snowed so much the night before that we had a snow ball fight on our way into the college. Then we went to our Pete office and were assigned our turf for canvassing. I had such a great experience! A lot of Pete supporters in this area. The thing about canvassing is that you are walking for hours in the freezing cold, up and down hills. Maybe one in five houses answer the door, if that. Of the people that answered the door, the majority of them were undecided or had Pete in their top two choices. When you meet an undecided voter, it is up to you to persuade them onto #teampete. Every time that I went out canvassing, I found that I got better and better at talking to people. I have to admit that it was way out of my comfort zone to be the one to start a conversation. Now I feel like a pro. This trip has made me a much more outgoing person. After canvassing we went to the Manchester office to make phone calls for the remain

On Wednesday we went to the climate forum in the morning to hear Amy Klobuchar speak about her climate platform before she had to fly to Washington to vote on Donald Trump’s impeachment. All 29 of us ran to the State House to meet the governor of New Hampshire, Governor Sununu. We attended an executive meeting. Then we headed back to the climate forum to see the last few minutes of Yang speak. We also were able to take a picture with him. Then we went to our office in Manchester, New Hampshire to make phone calls for the remainder of the day.

Tuesday morning, we visited the state house in Concord, NH. We had a tour of that building then went to the republican headquarters. Tuesday team Pete took over the iamusfsp Instagram page. We also went canvassing in Bedford, NH. Tuesday night we went to the Pete’s town hall in Concord. We helped check people in and the venue then I heard him speak for the very first time in person. Even though I was right next to him there were so many people I wasn't able to shake his hand but just being a foot away from him made me happy and I was able to listen to a conversation he had with a man about helping people with disabilities. I was able to take a picture with Chasten, Pete’s husband, and I further solidified that Pete is my guy. Everything he cares about is what I care about and I believe he is the one with the most realistic and comprehensive solutions to the problems this country and this planet are facing. 

Monday, we went to Pete’s headquarters in Manchester. We had training where we learned how to phone bank and how to canvas. I had never done either before. I have to admit I was a little nervous in the beginning, but then I realized the worst that can happen is they hang up on me or say a few mean words. Nothing I can’t handle! At night we all met at Margaritas, a Mexican restaurant in Salem, NH. We had a taco bar for dinner and churros for dessert. We also called someone that was at the Iowa caucus while watching it on TV. I never understood why Iowa was so hyped up in the media and after watching it I now understand. It is intense and it is a little climatic watching the people trying to convince voters that have to pick a different candidate because they didn’t get more than 15% of the vote.

Had a safe flight into Boston :)

My name is Halley Hobbs (named after the comet) . I am a junior at University of South Florida St. Petersburg. My major is Political Science and I consider myself a Democrat. The main issue that I care about is sustainability and combating climate change. I have two major career goals: I want to work in the White House and I want to eventually become a foreign service officer. I decided to take Road to the White House 2020 because it is on my bucket list to work on a presidential campaign. In 2016 I worked at the polling booths in my home town of Minooka, Illinois. I'm excited to spend these 10 days in the beautiful state of New Hampshire. Already met two Granite Staters on the plane and they were excited to see a group of college students from Florida choose to fly to the snow to become more civically engaged. Stay tuned! Tomorrow is the Iowa caucus!

A group of 29 students, including myself, are on our way to New Hampshire to work on various campaigns for the Primary. We are leaving Tampa airport this morning heading to Boston. Then we get in three vans and drive the hour and a half to Merrimack, New Hampshire. This is going to be ten days of canvassing, phone banking, going to rallies and town halls. Just really getting a lot of first-hand experience in the Granite State.