Staff Reports
The Trump campaign’s 2024 strategy saw a significant pivot towards door-knocking and grassroots efforts, leveraging third-party groups to get the job done. While this unorthodox method yielded some strong results, political operatives are raising eyebrows about whether this approach can be sustained in future elections. It’s like relying on your buddy’s off-brand beer at a party; it can work for one night, but will it hold up for the long haul?
The Federal Election Commission’s nod to allow campaigns to coordinate with outside political action committees (PACs) sent Republicans into a frenzy, shaking off the cobwebs of traditional methods used by the Republican National Committee and state parties. With this newfound freedom, Trump’s campaign largely delegated the crucial task of mobilizing voters to outside groups like Elon Musk’s America PAC and Turning Point Action. While this kind of teamwork may seem modern and vibrant, some Republicans are left wondering if their down-ballot candidates were collateral damage in the great canvassing experiment.
Seeing a lot of chatter about the scattershot GOP ground game that reminds me how prescient this @ShelbyTalcott @burgessev story was.
From Sept 10:https://t.co/J9OsqUAThk
— Elana Schor (@eschor) November 3, 2024
One political strategist has noted that in key states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada—where Trump emerged victorious—Republican Senate candidates, in stark contrast, floundered. This contradiction points to a concerning trend: countless Trump supporters made it to the polls only to leave their ballots incomplete. In Michigan alone, over 100,000 Trump voters decided their time was better spent not voting for the Senate nominee. A measly 16,000 Biden voters followed suit, but their party didn’t bank on external group shenanigans. It just goes to show that outsourcing ground game affects candidates up and down the ticket, leading to political losses that weren’t supposed to happen.
Turning Point Action (TPA) has beamed with pride over the margins with which Trump is leading in Arizona, a marked recovery from Biden’s narrow win in 2020. Their operatives claim to have mobilized an impressive 200,000 low-propensity voters, proving that their methods were, at least in some locales, effective. TPA features a canvassing app that would make even the most tech-savvy millennials proud. But while TPA shines with its innovative techniques, worries linger that this approach could cause major fissures within the Republican Party’s voting base.
Despite some successes, there remains an underlying unease among Republican strategists about placing so many chips on outside operators. As the results continue to unfold, some are advocating for a return to traditional methods that ensure the party retains more control over its narrative and voter outreach efforts. Relying too heavily on outside groups could strip a candidate or party of the much-needed cohesion to secure victories in future elections. The real danger here is that this strategy might be more about enriching consultants and PACs than about winning hearts and minds at the polls.
As TPA gears up to replicate its success across the country, there’s an undeniable sense of optimism. More young voters are being registered than ever before, with groups like TPA striving to make conservatism “cool” again, one college campus at a time. Whether their strategies will remain successful in 2028 is still a much-debated question. For now, they’re basking in the glow of their achievements, but the jury is still out on how this new era of GOP campaigning will play when the next big election rolls around.
