Tag: grassroots

Sleight Of Hand: Clinton Ground Game Lags Trump And RNC

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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.

200,000 Reasons the GOP Will Win This November

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The RNC has spent the past four years building an unprecedented field organization, and the numbers already coming in for the month of June are proving its power and effectiveness.

This past Saturday, staffers and volunteers came together on our National Training Day. Thousands of new volunteers showed up to learn our field program across the country. After their initial training, they went on to finish the day by knocking tens of thousands of doors.

In this month alone, the GOP has knocked nearly 200,000 doors in battleground states, more than double what was done through the entire month of June in 2012.

The contrast with the Democrats could not be clearer. While the Clinton campaign and the DNC have started to focus on the general election in just the past few weeks, our years-long head start proves not only our commitment to winning, but our commitment to engaging voters across the country and finding out what’s important to them.

We aren’t showing up and asking for a vote weeks or days before the election; we’ve been in your community for years.

We’ve been listening to the ideas, priorities, and concerns of voters for years now. And we’re going to keep doing that all the way until Election Day.

Check out what some of our volunteers were up to this past weekend:

https://twitter.com/loganplaster97/status/741785224523157504

https://twitter.com/rjstev23/status/741665762084028416

If you want to get involved in your state, visit GOP.com/Volunteer and sign up today!

Delegate Allocation And Selection Rules

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On October 1 of last year, 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia submitted finalized plans for how delegates would be chosen for the Republican National Convention. These plans were promptly circulated to all of the campaigns and the RNC held a briefing with over 100 members of the media in attendance laying out these plans the next day on October 2.

As a party, we believe in the freedom of the states to make decisions about how they will select delegates to the National Convention. And for decades, this grassroots-driven, democratic process has been transparent and effective.

This cycle is no different.

The rules surrounding the delegate selection have been clearly laid out in every state and territory and while each state is different, each process is easy to understand for those willing to learn it.

It ultimately falls on the campaigns to be up to speed on these delegate rules. Campaigns have to know when absentee ballots are due, how long early voting lasts in certain states, or the deadlines for voter registration; the delegate rules are no different.

Whether delegates are awarded through a primary, caucus, or convention, this process is democracy in action and driven by grassroots voters across the country.

The RNC is transparent about the rules and works with campaigns on a consistent basis to address any questions surrounding the process. As we head into the final contests in April, here is a rundown of those elections and how their delegates will be selected:

WYOMING (29 DELEGATES)

Delegates in Wyoming are elected at the grassroots level at the Wyoming State Party Convention. Campaigns can organize supporters to run as delegates and those candidates can be bound if they declare for a candidate.

NEW YORK (95 DELEGATES)

On April 19, New York Republicans will go to the polls with 95 delegates at stake. Delegates are awarded by congressional district and on an at-large basis. If a candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote in a congressional district they win all three of the at-large delegates in that district. Only those candidates who receive more than 20 percent of the vote are eligible to receive delegates. The delegates bound by the primary vote will then be elected by their peers at grassroots congressional district meetings. The 11 at-large delegates to the National Convention are voted on by the Republican State Committee at their meeting on May 18.

APRIL 26th STATES (172 DELEGATES)

CONNECTICUT (28 DELEGATES)

Delegates are submitted as slates by the candidates and are awarded on an at-large and congressional district basis. At-large delegates are awarded proportionately for all candidates who receive over 20 percent of the vote with all at-large delegates awarded to a candidate if they break 50 percent. The plurality winner of the congressional district vote wins all three delegates from the district. Both the at-large and congressional are elected at the State Committee Meeting on April 26.

DELAWARE (16 DELEGATES)

Delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis and are voted on as a slate at the state convention on April 29.

MARYLAND (38 DELEGATES)

Three delegates for each candidate are elected directly on the ballot in each congressional district and at-large delegates are voted on individually at the State Central Committee meeting on May 14. Congressional district delegates are winner-take-all by district vote, at-large delegates are winner-take-all by statewide vote.

PENNSYLVANIA (71 DELEGATES)

Pennsylvania elects three delegates from each congressional district on the primary ballot and the State Committee elects 14 at-large delegates at their meeting on May 21. Congressional district delegates are submitted by campaigns, though are technically unbound. At-large delegates are winner-take-all based on the statewide vote.

RHODE ISLAND (19 DELEGATES)

Delegates are elected directly on the ballot in the primary election. Delegates are awarded proportionately on an at-large and congressional district basis with a 10 percent threshold.

For more information and facts about the convention, conventionfacts.gop addresses frequently asked questions about delegates, the rules, and how the process works.