Respectful conversation is an investment in our shared future.

My goal as I knock doors is to secure 20,001 votes. Given that task, it doesn’t make sense for me to talk to folks not on my canvassing list. Maybe it’s the southern in me, but I can’t make myself ignore someone I see between doors.

Because of that, I’ve gotten votes I never would have had. Saturday I had a great chat with a couple who happened to be watching TV in their garage as I walked by.

I’ve also spent lots of time having what feel like impossible conversations. 

A young woman who was sitting in her driveway, watching her kids play, took my literature graciously but frowned down at the bullet point saying that “a woman’s health, not political interference, should guide important medical decisions throughout her pregnancy.” 

Abortion is never medically necessary, she said.

When I told her that several women are suing the state of Tennessee because they couldn’t get proper miscarriage treatment here, she blamed doctors’ incompetence. When I said the language of our abortion ban is nonmedical and therefore confusing—that my oldest daughter, a doctor, had read it and said the same—the young woman said she’d read it too and it seemed straightforward enough.

She wasn’t combative. On the contrary, she was trying her level best to reason with me. A time or two she stopped talking to regain her composure. “I’m sorry, I’m just really passionate about this,” she said. 

I said I understood, and I thanked her for her time. She thanked me for stopping by. 

On the other end of the street, I met an older man who liked everything about my platform except my party affiliation. 

“You’re on the wrong team,” he said. “How can you vote Democrat after what they’ve done to destroy this country? Don’t you remember how good things were under Donald Trump?” He wasn’t yelling. He was pleading. 

I could have pointed out all the ways it’s obvious to me that Trump is compromised. I could have talked about Project 2025. But I knew that, to him, I would have sounded crazy.

“You seem like a nice person,” he said. “I have an open mind, but I can’t vote for a Democrat.” We shook hands and left it at that.

The way I see it, these conversations are about more than winning votes. They’re about neighbors speaking to each other with respect, about keeping the lines of communication open so we can reestablish a shared reality. 

We’ll need it when the fever breaks.