As the presidential election comes down the home stretch, the RNC ground game is far surpassing anything we did in 2012.
In 2012, we had 576 staffers and organizers in 13 battleground states. This year, we have 3,894.
In Florida, we had 84 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 1,040 today.
In North Carolina, we had 61 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 657 today.
In Ohio, 79 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 436 today.
In Pennsylvania, 56 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 392 today.
All told, the RNC has 6,000 staff and trained organizers and millions of volunteers spread out across 33 states, and they’ve already knocked on 4.4 million doors this cycle, a number far greater than what we did four years ago.
But the media has fallen for the Clinton camp’s false narrative that equates having a lot of campaign offices with having a superior field organization.
In reality, the Clinton camp knows that the Trump campaign and the RNC’s combined efforts are outpacing their field organization, and their touting how many offices they have cannot cover up the fact they lag behind our effort in organizers, volunteers, and voter registration in key states.
Saying a large number of offices equates to an effective ground game is like saying having an expensive car makes you a good driver.
The evidence tells the story of who is really ahead.
When the Clinton campaign announced battleground state directors in April and May of 2016, the RNC had already been on the ground for 3 years.
RNC organizers have conducted over 55,000 one-on-one meetings with prospective volunteers and future organizers. That’s 55,000 personalized 30 minute to 1 hour sit-downs. The personal touch has made our field effort more dedicated and engaged.
While Clinton campaign staff were still identifying where to place offices, the RNC’s staff, organizers, and volunteers had tallied well over 1.2 million hours of organizing, the equivalent of 50,000 days, or 137 years.
We’ve outpaced Democrats in voter registration in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. We’ve registered nearly 725,000 new voters.
The Clinton campaign cannot come close to our output.
And let’s not forget until the DNC collapsed and was taken over by the Clinton campaign, they were insolvent and unable to fund any large scale operation. Only the RNC could do that.
Hyping up the number of offices ignores that fact our team has spent time working out of state and county party offices for years, in addition to informal locations like coffee shops. Many of our staffers and volunteers don’t need an office as a home base since they spend a majority of their time knocking on doors in neighborhoods and phone banking non-stop. Offices don’t talk to voters face-to-face.
The RNC came into this election more prepared than any committee in history, and the Trump campaign inherited an operation more ready to help a nominee than any the RNC has ever assembled. Now that both field programs are fully integrated, we are avoiding duplication in the field and are leveraging shared resources in the most effective way possible.
The RNC’s ground game is far ahead of a Clinton ground game that amounts to a cubicle factory, and we will continue to stay ahead as we push toward Election Day.
