A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
In the final days before voting ends, thousands of volunteers are knocking on doors in the key swing states, making sure people vote in person or by mail. That includes a group of Californians who go way back with Vice President Harris. NPR's senior White House correspondent, Tamara Keith, caught up with them in Wisconsin.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Rebecca Prozan and Robert Hertzberg are walking with purpose past piles of leaves, in the village of Shorewood Hills in Madison.
REBECCA PROZAN: We got doors.
ROBERT HERTZBERG: Doors.
PROZAN: We got doors.
HERTZBERG: We got doors. We got doors. We got to go to doors.
KEITH: Prozan was Harris' campaign manager when she first ran for San Francisco district attorney more than 20 years ago.
PROZAN: OK, 1133, let's do it.
KEITH: Now Prozan is a foot soldier in the massive ground operation that could help her friend become president of the United States.
PROZAN: We've been through it with her through many races. And this is one like none other, for a gazillion reasons.
HERTZBERG: What's that number?
PROZAN: 1007 right here.
HERTZBERG: Here we go.
KEITH: A young woman comes to the door with a toddler, and Hertzberg makes his pitch.
HERTZBERG: You see this young lady right here? She ran Kamala's campaign for district attorney way back in the beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, wow.
PROZAN: How cool is that?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's amazing.
HERTZBERG: And I was the speaker of the California Assembly and the majority leader of the Senate. We came out from California 'cause we're nervous.
PROZAN: Bring it home. We're here to bring it home.
HERTZBERG: We're here to bring it home.
KEITH: The woman says she's planning to vote for Harris, and her husband will, too. Hertzberg says he feels like they're getting the message out about Harris, one voter at a time. He even goes to the homes with Trump signs out front.
HERTZBERG: And the fact that we can come out and say, we know her. We've been to her wedding. You know, I know Doug forever. And, you know, we can be validators about her character...
PROZAN: Yes.
HERTZBERG: ...And her competence, you know, versus what you see on TV in all these commercials.
KEITH: The Harris friends from out of state are all staying together in a pair of Airbnbs. And over dinner every night, they decompress, detox and tell stories about their encounters during the day. Four years ago, Prozan says they went to Maricopa County, Arizona, to get out the vote for the Biden-Harris ticket.
PROZAN: My wife and I did not want to get COVID, but I was like, I can't be at home. I have to be - I got to be out talking to people.
KEITH: This year, she decided Wisconsin was the best place to make a difference. And the urgency of this campaign reminds her of the one she managed 20 years ago.
PROZAN: It was purpose, focus, limited time, very much like that first race. That first race, we literally had eight weeks running against two people who San Francisco knew about, where it was - everything was on the line, and it just had to be done. Obviously, the stakes are tremendously higher in this time.
KEITH: Prozan isn't going to Washington, D.C. for Harris's election night party. She's planning to stay right here in Wisconsin, tracking down voters until the polls close. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Madison.
(SOUNDBITE OF IF THESE TREES COULD TALK'S "DEUS EX MACHINA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
