Local party leaders make final push to drive turnout ahead of midterms

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Candidates and local party leaders made their final push Monday to get voters who haven’t cast their ballots out to the polls ahead of the midterm elections.

Local GOP leaders said through their efforts they want to get some 20 thousand voters out to the polls.

While the former Leon County democratic party chairman said he’s cautiously optimistic their push through digital platforms, and canvassing door-to-door giving out campaign literature will prove successful.

“They’re phone banking, they’re contacting people one-on-one and we’d like to think it’s starting to produce results,” said the former chairman for the Leon County Democrats John Hedrick.

Hedrick said they got a significant African American turnout for their “Souls for Polls” campaign event this weekend.

“We’ve seen a growing student vote which is very encouraging because that tends to be very democratic,” Hedrick said.

The local GOP party has been sending out election day reminders ahead of Nov. 8 in their get out the vote push.

Democrats said they have been focusing on promoting their candidates with flyers from the top of the ballot on down.

“You can’t just vote for governor and Senate and let that be the end of it,” Hedrick said.

Polls close at 7 pm in Leon County and Hedrick said that while voters have had ample opportunities to vote early that his party’s economic message can sell those still undecided.

“Nationally if things go the way we’d like to see we could see President Biden and the rest of the democrats do the things we’d like them to do,” Hedrick said.

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