TUSTIN, Calif. — Republicans have amassed a sprawling shadow field organization to defend the House this fall, spending tens of millions of dollars in an unprecedented effort to protect dozens of battleground districts that will determine control of the chamber.

The initiative by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), now includes 34 offices running mini-campaigns for vulnerable Republicans throughout the country. It has built its own in-house research and data teams and recruited 4,000 student volunteers, who have knocked on more than 10 million doors since February 2017.


The operation far eclipses the group’s activity in any previous election, when CLF didn’t have a single volunteer or field office. At this time last election cycle, the group had raised $2 million. As of Tuesday, CLF — which markets itself to donors as a super PAC dedicated to saving the House majority and can collect contributions with no dollar limit — had hauled in more than $71 million.

That war chest and new infrastructure could be a significant factor in an election year dominated by expectations of a Democratic wave fueled by a backlash against President Donald Trump.

“We have to do everything bigger and better to have a chance,” Corry Bliss, CLF’s executive director, said in a recent interview sandwiched between fundraising events with Ryan. (The speaker attends the events as a draw, but Bliss asks for cash later, in accordance with campaign finance law.) “If we do the same BS, cookie-cutter ads, we’re going to lose.”

CLF’s midterm strategy, which emphasizes long-term voter engagement, is not normal for a super PAC. Typically, lawmakers’ campaigns and the National Republican Congressional Committee deal with field work and get-out-the-vote efforts — then PACs like CLF swoop in to fill in the blanks with what Bliss often refers to as “shitty TV ads.”

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But Ryan’s political allies decided last year that that model wasn’t working — and that CLF, with its seemingly endless resources, was a “sleeping giant,” as they called it. They agreed to turn the PAC into a massive, hyper-local grass-roots organization. And they tapped Bliss, a former campaign manager, to run the operation.

“There was a belief shared by many that super PACs had become bloated in their role and, in some cases, did more damage than good,” said Ryan’s national finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, who helped steer the group’s makeover. “Ryan allies said: ‘How could they become more effective?’ and thought, ‘Why can’t super PACs basically run a shadow campaign?’"

Turns out they can.

The organization’s expansive operation has surpassed even the NRCC in its first year, at least as far as satellite field offices are concerned. The House’s traditional campaign arm has only one such office. And unlike CLF, which can spend its war chest wherever it sees fit, the NRCC has to cater to the more 240 dues-paying House Republicans, spreading its resources much thinner.

CLF’s new, more targeted structure also overshadows that of its Democratic rival, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority PAC, which has no field locations. Still, House Majority PAC spokesman Jeb Fain said CLF represents no threat, arguing that Democrats partner with other progressive organizations with get-out-the-vote field programs.

“This stuff is largely for show,” Fain said. “The other side's candidates and campaigns suffer from a serious lack of grass-roots support, so they’re trying to manufacture a facade of enthusiasm.”

Whether CLF’s efforts can have a decisive impact in what's shaping up to be a Democrat-favoring election year remains to be seen: The Hillary Clinton campaign's daunting turnout organization was expected to make the difference against Trump in 2016.

But in a one-room office located in a downtown business district here in Orange County one recent evening, the group’s organizational muscle was apparent.

Two dozen high school and college kids crammed into the office, working the phones to help vulnerable GOP Rep. Mimi Walters’ reelection campaign. Flyers touting Walter’s achievements sat on counters, ready for those knocking doors. Signs on the wall read, “call, knock, win, repeat” and “Mimi Rocks.”

Working two phones at once, 18-year-old college freshman Liam Murphy prodded voters about their concerns. To one person anxious about the economy, he had ready an example of how Walters had worked on that very problem.

“Did you hear about the Tax Cut and Jobs Act [House Republicans] got passed in December?” Murphy told a voter concerned about the economy. “It was one of the biggest tax cuts in history.”

That, in a nutshell, is CLF’s strategy. While the group's new in-house research team digs for negative information on Democrats, its data department polls key swing districts to identify issues that high-propensity swing voters care about most. Then the group sends its volunteers to talk to those voters in person, armed with literature and talking points touting what GOP incumbents have done to advance those causes.

“Asking you who you are voting for this far out is meaningless,” Bliss said. “If you tell us what the two things are that you care about most, we should be able to get you.”

That means each of its field offices emphasizes different policies. In Illinois, it’s Reps. Peter Roskam’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In Florida, Rep. Brian Mast’s work on Lake Okeechobee gets top billing. And in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, volunteers talk up Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s effort to clean water contamination wells.

It’s an iteration of Ryan and GOP leadership's political strategy in 2016, when they told swing-district members to go hyper-local. Technically, Ryan and lawmakers are not allowed to coordinate with super PACs, though their allies on the outside can.

When Ryan's political allies decided to remodel CLF mid-cycle in 2016, Bliss became the obvious choice to take over. He’d captured national attention for his aggressive ground game running Sen. Rob Portman’s reelection campaign, when he opened 20 field offices and staffed them with interns eager to participate in the electoral process.

Bliss brought three of those Portman campaign staffers with him to scale up the Ohio strategy, hiring them to oversee about 10 CLF offices each. The field program — which costs about $250,000 per office, or roughly the price of one TV ad for a few weeks — should give Republicans a 3-point boost in each race, Bliss predicted.

“In a close race, that’s the difference between winning or losing,” he said.

Not all Republicans were sold on Bliss’ strategy — particularly his pitch to start knocking on doors almost 20 months out from Election Day. But Bliss argued to donors — casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have given tens of millions of dollars — that “doing field [work] in the fall before the election is a waste of time and energy … it doesn’t do anything to win,” he said.

“If I knock on your door one or two times, it’s not going to do anything,” Bliss said. “It’s that repetition that is required to really have an impact.”

The group opened its first field office in February 2017 in Rep. Don Bacon’s Nebraska district, quickly identifying 40,000 voters who cared most about supporting Offutt Air Force Base and then working to convince them that Bacon was its champion.

Students have become the focal point of the operation, staffing the offices Monday through Saturday in rotating shifts. CLF actually chose its field office locations by looking for the largest number of high schools within a 25-minute radius. Staff members recruit volunteers at career fairs or in civics classes, then give them a list of neighborhoods to hit over and over again.

In the Orange County office, one student touted Walters’ vote on the tax bill, encouraging an undecided voter to “look at your paycheck” to see whether he or she was receiving more money. Another told a voter concerned about national security that the congresswoman “is fighting for a stronger military.”

“There are people who I’ve started talking to who didn’t seem sure; then, after [I spoke with them] they were like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll support Mimi Walters,’” said Murphy, who dedicates 16 to 20 hours per week to the job and said it beats "flipping burgers.” "It’s cool. I actually feel like it’s making a difference."

The field offices have become the envy of the House Republican Conference. While CLF is not allowed to discuss its efforts with members and candidates under campaign law, lawmakers have taken notice and tried to signal a desire for help.

This week, CLF will announce three new offices, one each for vulnerable Reps. John Faso of New York and Fred Upton of Michigan and a third in Minnesota, where the party is vying for an open seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan.

"I welcome any help I can get," said Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.). Clinton carried his Central Valley district by 15 points, and CLF has set up a field office there.

"We've seen them around at local events,” Valadao said. “I hope they've been effective."