Like others at the College, Katie Erikson ’26 believes in the need for gun control and the right to abortion, two issues central to this year’s presidential race. But unlike most, Erikson will travel to Philadelphia with her family during reading period to canvas for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz’s presidential campaign.
“It’s so important to target swing states,” Erikson, a New York resident, told the Record. “And Pennsylvania is the closest swing state to me, so I thought it would be fun to go to there and canvas.”
In addition to traveling to Pennsylvania, Erikson has also been campaigning for the Harris-Walz ticket virtually. “I’ve been doing phone banking on a zoom group,” she said. “If you care about the election and the people you’re canvassing for, that sort of does the work for you.”
Erikson is not the only Eph to campaign for Harris and Walz. Sebastian Bonnard ’26 has been working as an advance associate since the summer. “It’s not something that’s very advertised by campaigns, so you kind of have to search for advanced roles,” he said.
Bonnard oversaw arrivals, directed the press, and managed crowds at campaign events over the summer. He assisted in organizing events from California to Wisconsin.
The organizers Bonnard worked alongside — whom he described as “excited, kind, [and] welcoming” — made the experience a rewarding one, he said. He added that he met Harris and Walz on the trail, which was a highlight of his work. “They’re both great and really kind,” he said. “We appreciated that they took the time for us at the end of each event.”
“I think she represents a lot of things that I agree with,” Bonnard added. “I’m really excited and grateful to have been a part of, hopefully, the campaign that elects the first Black female president of the United States.”
Bonnard attended a rally in Milwaukee the same evening that the Democratic National Committee held a ceremonial roll-call vote at their convention, marking Harris as the party’s nominee. “It was surreal,” he said. “It’s a really stressful and fast-paced work environment, but moments like that make it all worth it. Just to see so many people happy, excited, and all united to support one woman is really powerful. It was by far the highlight of my summer.”
But organizing events across the country during the school year would have proved far more challenging, he said. “It’s hard to do this type of work at Williams when you’re in school full-time,” he said. “You really need to have a chunk of a couple of days with no commitments to be able to get off campus and help out with the campaign.”
Bonnard added that he briefly considered taking the semester off to consider working for the campaign. “A lot of people who do the type of work I did are college students and people outside of school that can commit to advance work up until the end of the campaign.”
Bonnard offered advice to students at the College who are interested in supporting the Harris-Walz campaign. “The biggest thing that I could ask is vote — and make sure that your friends are voting, your family members are voting, and your acquaintances are voting,” he said.
In past years, Professor of Political Science James Mahon has campaigned for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Kerry. He now serves as the chairman of the Williamstown Town Democratic Committee and a member of Berkshire Democratic Brigades, an organization working to elect democrats in the Berkshires.
He explained that the Williamstown Town Democratic Committee is less focused on this year’s presidential race in comparison to closer congressional and local races.
Mahon has previously campaigned with Berkshire Brigades in New Hampshire, a more electorally competitive state than Massachusetts. “It doesn’t make much difference in Massachusetts, which is why our county organization is called Berkshire Brigades, as if we are heading out to other territory,” he said.
“I really believe that our democracy is at stake,” Erikson said. “I don’t want to just scream into the void about how scared I am or how bad one outcome would be without taking action myself.”
