CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — By this point in time, you’ve almost certainly heard of former President Donald Trump and have thoughts about if you want him to win in this November’s election.
But as Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley told a crowded room in Casa Grande, Ariz., last week, it takes extra effort to turn those thoughts into ballots for Trump.
“You all know somebody that if they vote, they would vote for him … they would vote for President Trump, but they haven't voted in four years or six years or eight years,” he said. “Low-propensity voters is what we call them — we need to dynamite those people off of their couch.”
Whatley was at the opening of a Trump Force 47 office in a growing part of Pinal County, about an hour south of Phoenix, touting the party’s plan to marshal a volunteer army of fervent Trump supporters to make neighbor-to-neighbor contacts and mobilize support in key battleground states like Arizona and Georgia.
Trump Force 47 was announced the day after Trump’s guilty verdict was announced in his New York hush money trial. It came at a time when Trump and the RNC were struggling to bring in cash, compared to the fundraising hauls reported by President Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
In all, half a dozen field offices have been opened across Arizona since early June.
The plan is for paid regional field directors to harness the voter volunteers and guide them with RNC data about inactive and infrequent voters in their neighborhoods.
It’s an unconventional approach, but one that Arizona GOP chair Gina Swoboda said will add to Trump’s base of support.
“The focus now is on people you know that are around you, rather than everybody go out and randomly hit doors,” she said. “This is data-driven, focused on the people in the areas that are the voters that we need to turn out in order to land that plane and win that victory.”
It’s also a plan that’s singularly focused on Trump.
At the Casa Grande office, there are only signs for Trump Force 47 and the RNC’s Protect the Vote campaign.
There are no signs for Kari Lake, the GOP frontrunner for Arizona’s U.S. Senate nomination, even though her race could decide control of that chamber in 2025. In fact, there’s no visual evidence of support for any other GOP candidates.
Trump is the alpha and omega — and that’s by design.
“I think that's what's different about the new leadership with the RNC versus 2020,” Arizona RNC spokeswoman Halee Dobbins said. “We really want to focus on the presidential [race] and making sure the president has all he can on the ground to support those efforts.”
It’s not that the RNC doesn’t support candidates down the ballot; Dobbins said they’re just leaving campaigning for those candidates up to others.
“I think we have a great team at the [National Republican Congressional Committee] and the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] who are focused on those candidates, and we are supporting them 100%,” she said. “But we know we do best when we can focus on that top-level ticket.”
On the other side of the aisle, Arizona Democrats are running a more coordinated campaign. Democratic office openings feature wall-to-wall yard signs for an array of candidates up and down the ballot, from Biden to likely U.S. Senate nominee Ruben Gallego to local officials.
Democrats are largely focusing on conveying the stakes of the election for specific groups — partially because of swirling questions around Biden’s fitness to run for a second term, and partially it's a strategic choice to try to retain their diverse coalition that won in 2020.
In Georgia, recent history raises the stakes
Another Sunbelt state that will be an electoral battleground this year is Georgia, which has seen several high-profile, high-stakes races in the last four years, contributing to fatigue for voters and organizers alike.
Republicans have opened more than a dozen Trump Force 47 offices across the state in the last month, including its first office in Fayetteville, nestled into Atlanta’s southern suburbs.
Fayette County nearly flipped to Democrats in the 2022 U.S. Senate runoff and is home to the type of voters both parties need to show up — and do well with — this November.
That’s one reason Brian Jack, who is the Republican nominee for an open congressional seat that includes the county, was there for the office opening.
“Fayette County is one of those counties that Democrats are targeting this November,” he said. “They want to try to flip our county, and I think that's reflective of the fact that the president's campaign decided they wanted to put a regional headquarters here.”
Just like Arizona, this Trump Force 47 office is filled with Trump signs — including walls that spell out “DJT” and “47,” plus dozens of people eager to volunteer their time to tell their neighbors it’s time to show up and vote.
That’s a meaningful shift after Trump’s narrow 2020 loss — and the party losing both Senate seats in 2021 runoffs — in part because of lower Republican turnout and Trump’s false claims of fraud.
This year, though, the message from Trump has been clearer.
“Look, if we win Georgia, we're going to win the election,” Trump said at a March rally in Rome, Ga. ”Let me put it that way, OK? We have to win Georgia, so get everyone you know and let's send crooked Joe Biden packing.”
What remains to be seen is how Trump Force 47 will play out come November, especially in an unusual election year where both major candidates have been president.
Right now, Republican Senate candidates are underperforming Trump’s poll numbers, while Democratic Senate candidates are outperforming Biden’s polling. Both parties hope that will change.
Republicans don’t plan to let up on their laser-like focus for Trump, and plan on his voters showing up for other candidates, too.
“We know if voters are going to come out and vote for Trump, they're going to vote for Republicans down the ballot,” Dobbins, the Arizona RNC spokeswoman, said.
It’s possible the grassroots-led, cost-efficient campaign strategy could lead to a rising tide for Trump that lifts the GOP boat, but it's not guaranteed.
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