Americans in Montreal eager to engage in the U.S. election
CTV
With the U.S. election hitting another gear of excitement, Americans living in Montreal are feeling the effects with some working overtime to get out the vote.
The level of intensity of the 2024 U.S. election ramped up to 11 in recent weeks, and Americans living in Montreal are not immune to the effects.
"The next four months, if they're anything like the last 48 hours, are going to be nuts. It's going to be insanity," said Democrats Abroad Canada chair Erin Kotecki Vest. "Everyone is pumped. Everyone wants to do something."
Kotecki Vest has been in Montreal for five years after moving from California. She is among the Democrats amped at the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's candidate for president after President Joe Biden decided not to run for another term.
"The vibe right now is like Christmas," Kotecki said with a laugh. "It is as though the Fourth of July, Christmas, and everything all rolled into one... The level has just shot up."
The excitement is similar on the other side of the spectrum with Republicans energized by former president Donald Trump's performance at the Republican National Convention.
"You can imagine what the roar was like when he [Trump] came in," said Republicans Overseas Canada chapter lead Georganne Burke. "It was like one of his rallies actually... It was an amazing thing to see. Even people who are not always high on him in the party, and there are those people there, Nikki Haley, there are people who probably are just not big supporters of Trump. Even those people could not ignore the emotion that people were feeling in that room."
Burke and Kotecki Vest will be working from now until November to motivate the thousands of Americans living in Canada to register to vote.
