Republicans in battleground states are warning Donald Trump that he has no get-out-the-vote operation on the ground.
Donald Trump thought the election was over when Joe Biden was in the race. Trump never bothered to grow or invest in a get-out-the-vote operation in the battleground states. Instead, he left these efforts to private conservative groups, but Biden is not running anymore, and now, the ex-president has a big problem.
While Trump has repeatedly said Republican Party officials only needed to focus on election integrity, he has begun hearing from outside allies that he does not have a significant ground game in key battleground states. He has grown annoyed with some of the media focus on his campaign staff, suggesting to others that his advisers get too much credit. Some advisers have urged him to spend more on digital advertising, saying he is being pummeled online.
Here is how bad it is on the ground in swing states for Trump, “With fewer than 100 days before the election, local GOP officials in battleground states have raised alarms about the scant presence of Trump campaign field staff. For the large armies of paid and volunteer door-knockers and canvassers who typically drive turnout in presidential elections, the campaign is largely relying on outside groups such as America First Works, America PAC and Turning Point Action.”
The field staff on the ground are the people who drive turnout in battleground states. If there are no people or organized offices, no one is available to turn out the vote.
In contrast, here is what the Harris-Walz campaign has just in the two states that they are visiting on Friday (Arizona and Nevada) via the Harris campaign:
Team Harris-Walz has more than 25 coordinated campaign offices throughout Arizona and Nevada, with more than 220 full-time staff.
In Nevada, we are running the largest in-state operation of any coordinated campaign ever, with 13 offices and nearly 100 staff on the ground. We have also seen unprecedented volunteer enthusiasm over the past few weeks: hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced her presidential campaign, more than 600 volunteers signed up to support the campaign. Shortly after Vice President Harris announced her candidacy, the campaign held a weekend of action that saw more than 1,000 volunteers take action with the campaign, reaching nearly 50,000 voters across the state by knocking on doors and working the phones.
In Arizona, the campaign has 12 coordinated offices with six more to come—the most of any Arizona coordinated campaign in history. The campaign has hired more than 120 full-time staff, with offices in every corner of the state from border communities like Nogales to rural areas like Kingman. With a popular message and a strong record on the issues that matter most to voters, Vice President Harris has seen a groundswell of support in Arizona in the form of volunteer signups and endorsements. Since July 21, 20,899 Arizonans have signed up online to join the campaign. And during July’s weekend of action, the campaign and the Arizona Democratic coordinated campaign launched 26 canvasses and hosted a total of 67 events from rural Arizona to Midtown Phoenix.
Harris and Walz have hundreds of paid staffers in two states contacting voters and getting out the vote. Trump is hoping that outside groups will fill the void for him.
If this election stays close, the ground game will decide who wins and who loses battleground states, and without a strong coordinated effort, Republicans could be heading for a disaster that Donald Trump created by scrapping the party’s ground game.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
