GOP devotes $250M to midterm strategy: Keep House majority

AP

Steve Peoples

April 15, 2018



"The Republican National Committee has committed $250 million to a midterm election strategy that has one goal above all else: Preserve the party’s House majority for the rest of President Donald Trump’s first term.

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"'Our No. 1 priority is keeping the House. We have to win the House,' RNC political director Juston Johnson said. 'That is the approach we took to put the budget together.'



"RNC officials shared details of their midterm spending plan with The Associated Press just as several hundred volunteers and staff held a day of action on Saturday in competitive regions across the country…

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"Seven months before Election Day, there are already 300 state-based staff on the RNC’s payroll. The committee expects to have 900 total paid staff around the country — excluding its Washington headquarters — before November’s election, Johnson said. The number of trained volunteers, he said, has already surpassed 10,000.

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"An optimistic McDaniel said strong Republican fundraising has allowed the aggressive strategy. During the first year of Trump’s presidency, the GOP set a fundraising record by raising more than $132 million.



"'Our sweeping infrastructure, combined with on-the-ground enthusiasm for President Trump and Republican policies, puts us in prime position to defend our majorities in 2018,' McDaniel said.



"The $250 million price tag for what she described as a 'permanent data-driven field program' is the committee’s largest ground-game investment in any election season. The resources are focused in some unfamiliar territory, including several House districts in Southern California, which Johnson described as 'a huge focus.'



"At a minimum, each targeted state features an RNC state director, a data director and at least a few staff devoted to each competitive House district. They are aggressively recruiting and training local volunteers to expand the GOP’s presence in key communities.

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"'We’re building a volunteer army that will be a turnkey operation for every Republican campaign up and down the ballot,' Coats said. 'A strong field game like the one we have here can and will make a difference.'"







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Elections

House 2018

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