RNC Launching ‘Week of Action’ to Test Its Ground Game
Committee expects 4,000 volunteers to make 2 million contacts over the week
With 101 days left before the midterm elections, the Republican National Committee wants to test the strength of its ground game with a “national week of action.”
The committee expects 4,000 volunteers to make 2 million contacts over the week.
RNC Deputy National Press Secretary Blair Ellis said the committee has operations in 27 states.
“This is a big way we test our teams and the way we activate our members,” Ellis said. “Doing a week of action in July is standing operating procedure for the GOP. It’s a way we test our teams and volunteers.”
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the committee has “a record number of staff on the ground and more volunteers than ever before, we are ready to defy history this November.”
“The millions of voter contacts we’ve made thus far, and the millions more to come, are a testament to the breadth of our permanent, data-driven, ground game and sheer enthusiasm for President Trump and Republican candidates up and down the ballot,” she said.
The release said the RNC is expected to hit 1 million contacts in Michigan this week and is also coming close to 1 million door contacts in Florida, which it said was double what the goal was the same week in 2016.
In North Dakota, where Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is facing a challenge from Rep. Kevin Cramer, the RNC plans to reach 145,000 total contact attempts, which it says is 25 percent of all eligible voters in the state.
Ellis also said the committee is in Virginia, which is in Democrats’ crosshairs to pick up a few seats in the House.
Republicans are especially concerned that that Republican nominee Corey Stewart, who in the past had ties to white nationalists in the state, could weigh down Republicans as he challenges incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine.
“We are doing primarily the biggest races in the ballot but we touch on voters in every district,” Ellis said when asked about whether there would be any assistance for Stewart. “We have a very big map.”
Ellis also said they are looking at the places where the committee can “get the biggest bang for our buck.”
The week of action also comes as the GOP prepares for a special election on Aug. 7th in Ohio’s 12th District to replace former Rep. Pat Tiberi.
The committee said it has already contacted more than 400,000 voters since the primary in May.
Republican Troy Balderson is being challenged by Democrat Danny O’Connor in the race rated Tilt Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.
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