Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is shedding weight in the organization to emphasize quality in 2024 as opposed to the “juggernaut” nature of its 2020 try.
The Trump campaign has dedicated fewer resources than projected in three critical swing states: Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan — likely consequences of a sweeping measure towards a more “efficient” and “leaner” campaign, according to the Washington Post.
This comes as a stark contrast to President Joe Biden’s campaign, which has expanded its 2024 effort compared to 2020 and is expected to shell out cash at a quicker rate than Republicans.
Attendees of a May 4 Mar-a-Lago event said top Trump strategist Chris LaCivita told donors that the campaign is shifting to a “quality over quantity” approach.
Georgia, a state Trump lost by less than half a point last election cycle, is of particular concern.
“In order to win close elections in Georgia, you have to have a ground game that emphasizes turning out early votes and absentee votes,” Cody Hall, a senior adviser to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), said. “I have seen no evidence of them having any of that. The Trump campaign has a consultant in Georgia, but there is nothing else that I can see. … Everyone is generally concerned.”
Arizona, a once-consistent Republican state that Biden flipped in 2020, is as well. Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda called RNC Chairman Michael Whatley to complain that the state isn’t receiving enough resources.
“There is no sign of life,” Kim Owens, a Republican operative and public relations professional in Arizona, said. “Especially in a state that Trump lost so closely last time, you’d expect to have more of a presence. I would think, ‘Let’s step it up.’ I think it’s a terrible mistake.”
Michigan, the most competitive of the three states in the polls, has some officials “concerned about a lack of an operation there,” but Trump officials say the strategy just differs from past election tries.
“It’s a different operation that is built by people who win races and have won races,” LaCivita said in an interview. “As it relates to 2020, they did things their way. Some worked. A lot didn’t. But that was then, and this is now.”
In another pivot, Republicans and RNC have slowed efforts to pump up early voting. Pushing out information early voting through the website Bank Your Vote has been delayed, but officials show little concern.
“It is full speed ahead,” said James Blair, the national political director for both the Trump campaign and the RNC. “Stay tuned for more on the program.”
“Someone should tell Donald Trump and the RNC that there’s an election in less than six months,” DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
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“Trump is already running on an extreme and unpopular agenda, and his MAGA takeover of the Republican Party has left the GOP unable to build a ground game or infrastructure to reach voters before November, after purging staff and instituting an election denier litmus test for prospective hires,” Floyd continued. “While Trump and his MAGA minions scramble to run a campaign, Democrats are firing on all cylinders to make Trump a two-time loser on November 5.”
Despite recent concern, Trump is leading in all three states’ running polling average, according to FiveThirtyEight. Michigan has seen the starkest change from 2020, when he never led in the polls from February to November, and now has maintained a narrowing lead since March.
