The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee (RNC) are insisting they are ramping up activity since Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee, but both are short on specifics.
RNC and Trump campaign officials in recent days detailed planned investments in battleground states, and Trump himself will travel Tuesday to Michigan and Wisconsin, his first events in a major swing state since he visited Georgia on March 9.
But party officials have offered little information on where they plan to invest and what their strategy is, though they insist they are not playing catch-up even as the Biden campaign racks up a massive fundraising advantage and has opened field offices across the country.
Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump adviser who joined the RNC as chief of staff during a recent staffing overhaul, said in a statement that Biden trails Trump in the polls despite facing essentially no resistance for the Democratic nomination.
“In contrast, the Trump campaign, after shattering records in primary and caucus wins in both turnout and margin across the country, has locked up the nomination in one of the fastest timelines in modern day political history,” LaCivita said. “With an operation fueled by hundreds of thousands of small dollar donors and energized supporters, and without sharing our strategy with Democrats through the media, we have the message, the operation, and the money to propel President Trump to victory on November 5.”
Officials with the RNC and Trump campaign held a call with reporters Thursday in which they pushed back on the idea that the Biden campaign and Democrats were building a major advantage in on-the-ground operations.
One RNC official argued Democrats “are only wanting to talk about process because they can’t lead with their candidate,” while Trump is enjoying a lead in polls and in enthusiasm among his supporters.
A Decision Desk HQ average of national polls shows Trump ahead of Biden by less than 2 percentage points. Trump has a similarly narrow lead in an average of polls out of Wisconsin and Wisconsin, though the former president is leading by 4 percentage points in Michigan and Georgia.
A senior Trump campaign official pointed to the former president’s dominance in the GOP primaries, where he won more than 50 percent of the vote in Iowa and coasted to double-digit wins in nearly every other contest. The official said the campaign’s primary operations in those states were put together to serve as a blueprint for the general election.
Asked about plans to staff up for the general election, a senior RNC official told reporters the party was “rapidly building out the political operation.” The official said the party will open dozens of offices and hire hundreds of staff in the next 30-45 days.
But officials offered few specifics about the planned operations. When asked if there were particular counties in battleground states where the Trump campaign and RNC planned to invest more heavily, an official rebuffed the question and said they would not publicize their strategy for Democrats to see.
Trump merged his campaign with the RNC last month upon becoming the presumptive nominee, and his top aides set about laying off dozens of staffers, bringing in new leadership and putting a focus on election integrity efforts, which the former president has emphasized amid his continued false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Trump secured the delegates needed to become the presumptive Republican nominee on March 12. But in the roughly three weeks since, he has done little to invest time and resources in the critical states likely to determine the outcome in November.
The former president has held only one campaign rally since March — an event in Ohio to support Senate candidate Bernie Moreno ahead of the primary there.
His Tuesday visit to Michigan will be his first since mid-February, while his rally in Wisconsin on the same day will be his first time in the Badger State in 2024.
By comparison, Biden has visited all seven major battleground states in the past month: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.
The Biden campaign announced Friday that it had opened more than 100 coordinated offices with Democratic officials in key battleground states across the country, building out its infrastructure significantly after some in the party expressed concern about a lack of urgency early in the campaign.
And Biden’s campaign boasts a massive fundraising advantage over Trump’s operation, which has been hampered by the former president’s legal expenses. Biden raised more than $25 million in one night alone with a glitzy New York City event alongside former Presidents Obama and Clinton last week.
A money edge does not guarantee success, however, and Trump’s team has insisted it will have the money it needs to compete in the general election. The former president is expected to raise millions at a high-dollar event later this week.
“Coupled with their extreme agenda to rip away Americans’ freedoms and drag our country backward, the GOP has a losing message and flailing operation,” DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake said in a statement. “The contrast couldn’t be more stark as Democrats in critical battleground states and beyond are unified, fortified, and ready to defeat MAGA Republicans once again.”