In a close presidential race, getting out the vote means getting out of Mass.

With a week to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris can count on carrying Massachusetts. This deep-blue state has overwhelmingly rejected Republican Donald Trump twice before. But many Massachusetts Democrats are still working hard for Harris; they’re just doing it in states like Pennsylvania, where the polls are too close to call — and the electoral college windfall is too important to ignore.

Amherst resident Rob Robertson, 68, has been canvassing in and around Philadelphia since the summer. Knocking on doors on a recent afternoon in the city of Chester, a predominantly Black community about 20 miles from Philly, he found a lot of support for Harris.

"I believe we need a woman president," Chester resident Victor Fleming said to Robertson. "It's time for a change, and we don't need a four-time convicted felon in there again."

A few doors down, Barbara Ferree said she also is backing Harris and was impassioned in her opposition to Trump.

"If he gets back in there, he's going to go against the people who tried to bring him down," Ferree said. "He's not accountable for his actions. He is not God. And nobody understands that."

Robinson told her people do understand her perspective: "You're preaching to the choir."

Robertson was encouraged by the responses he was getting this day in Chester. Often, he said, no one is home or they don't answer the door. So he just leaves campaign literature and moves on.

"Usually, 10% come to the door. You might have a couple of conversations," he said. "So, this is an unusual afternoon."

Robertson has teamed up with fellow Bay Stater Sue Donaldson, a retired doctor from Northampton. They've been living in an Airbnb in Philadelphia, hosting fellow Democrats from Massachusetts who come in to volunteer for the Harris campaign for a week or two at a time.

Donaldson said she's staying in the swing state through Election Day, because unlike her home state, Pennsylvania could decide the outcome of this election.

"What we can do in Massachusetts doesn't really count for much," she said. "So, we want to be somewhere that makes a difference."

A number of elected Massachusetts officials are doing the same thing.

At a recent fundraiser in Boston, headlined by Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, Gov. Maura Healey was overheard urging local Harris supporters to travel to one of seven swing states to help her win, Politico reported.

“Those of you who are able, get out of Massachusetts,” Healey reportedly said.

As the ultra-close presidential race moves into its final days, a number of Bay State Democrats are heeding the governor’s exhortation. Healey herself joined a “Blue Wall” bus tour across Michigan earlier this month, along with several fellow Democratic governors. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigned recently for Harris in Michigan, while Rep. Ayanna Pressley has traveled to Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania to help get out the vote.

“Massachusetts Democrats have a long history of being deployed to critical battleground states,” Pressley said, nodding to the party's vaunted ground game.

Republicans, too, have dispatched people to Pennsylvania.  Two-and-a-half hours north of Philadelphia, Lynnfield resident Harry Loomos was among some 30 Massachusetts Republicans who spent a recent weekend going door-to-door for Trump in Lackawanna County.

“We’re sending volunteers and also making tons of phone calls,” he said, adding that in non-battleground states like Massachusetts, there are enthusiastic pro-Trump Republicans who feel disaffected at home, but who are among his “most passionate volunteers” in key swing states like Pennsylvania.

"I think it makes all the difference in the world," Loomos said.

Back in the streets of Philadelphia, Cambridge Democrat Nadia Colburn canvassed for Harris outside a community college. There she met Talour Cheeves, a local resident who called the choice in the election "the lesser of two evils," before admitting he just hadn't had time to focus on the race. But after a conversation with Colburn, he seemed to move toward supporting Harris.

"I'm definitely not going to vote for Trump, so it's going to be Kamala," he said.

Canvassers for both parties are following familiar playbooks. For Republicans, flipping Pennsylvania for Trump will require making gains in blue collar regions like Lackawanna County. For Democrats, success will mean running up the score in party strongholds like Philadelphia and its suburbs. So for Colburn, the path was clear; after she finished her conversation with Cheeves, she moved on in search of another voter.