‘Never Seen This Before’: Georgia GOP Eyes Comeback With New Strategy After Biden’s 2020 Win
For the first time in 28 years, Georgia elected a Democrat as president in 2020, with President Joe Biden winning the state by 11,779 votes. But on-the-ground Republican leaders told The Federalist they hope this year will be different — and that the campaign’s operations are like nothing “seen … before.”
Axios reportedly obtained a copy of Trump campaign training materials that describe the campaign’s 2020 efforts as “inefficient.” The materials reportedly prioritize focusing on “hard-to-reach, low-propensity voters.” The Trump campaign confirmed to The Federalist its efforts to target low-propensity voters and encourage voters to vote early.
“Team Trump is doubling down on our efforts to reach voters where they are at and share President Trump’s plans to make America prosperous again,” RNC Battleground States Communications Director Rachel Reisner told The Federalist in a statement. “Team Trump continues to build out the most sophisticated and modern approach, ever.”
And Republican county chairs are attesting to the new efforts.
DeKalb County
DeKalb Republican Party Chairwoman Marci McCarthy told The Federalist that current operations are “really different from their 2020 operations. I’ve actually never seen this before.”
“We feel like we’re getting great support from the Trump Force 47 team,” McCarthy told The Federalist. “We’re having training in the field offices twice a week, they’re doing phone banking, they’re teaching them how to utilize the technology, how to engage with voters. They’ll do some training with canvassing, and then they’ll take volunteers right out to do canvassing. They also encourage them to do things on their own; they have their own walk books. They’re learning something, they’re doing something. So they’re seeing instant gratification, and they’re engaging with low propensity voters that they’re targeting.”
McCarthy said Team Trump is using the “basics” of campaigning but that they’re doing it in a “structured environment.”
“Take canvassing: to walk up to a stranger’s door and knock on it is something that’s very uncharacteristic for some people, so how do you go do something that you’re weary of?” McCarthy asked. “The RNC is giving them the skills. In the past I just had to figure out how to do these things on my own by going out with someone who had done it before.”
“We didn’t know what to do [in 2020] because we didn’t have infrastructure; it was all kind of grassroots, but it was not organized,” McCarthy said. “Trump Force 47 is grassroots, get out the vote, in a box. It’s a machine, and it’s all throughout the state.”
On a county level, McCarthy told The Federalist that efforts to chase ballots are a priority. McCarthy said her county chased ballots during the presidential primary “to get our feet wet” in “how to do it” ahead of November.
“We encourage [voters] to complete the process. But again, we’re not soliciting anything, we’re not picking up the ballot — we’re just there to encourage them to finish the process [and] let them know where their return location would be,” McCarthy explained. This effort wasn’t coordinated with Team Trump, but McCarthy anticipates the campaign will begin its ballot-chasing efforts as early voting approaches, noting that there are no ballots to chase as of yet. In Georgia, only family members can return another person’s ballot, so ballot chasing will look like calling or texting voters instead of physically collecting ballots (as is allowed in some other states), McCarthy explained.
The Trump campaign did not provide The Federalist any additional information about efforts to chase ballots.
Forsyth County
Forsyth County Republican Chairman Greg Landon told The Federalist that while he wasn’t involved in 2020, Trump Force 47 has been “very active” this election cycle. “Our Trump Force 47 leader for this region — he’s been doing trainings, probably one or two a week for the last couple of months at our headquarters, and each one has a decent turnout,” Landon said.
“There’s thousands and thousands of contacts being made in this region, in terms of volunteers that have been trained and doors that have been knocked [on]. It seems to me like it’s a great program, but I don’t have anything to compare it to,” Landon told The Federalist when asked about current on-the-ground efforts, adding such efforts include writing postcards and phone-calling with a heavy focus on low-propensity voters.
Grassroots organizations, such as Tea Party Patriots, have also been deeply involved in the county efforts, according to Landon.
When it comes to ballot-chasing operations, Landon said his county has not received any training yet, but he expects training to begin as the state nears the start of early voting, noting that there are currently no ballots to chase.
Cobb County
Cobb County Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs touted her Trump Force 47 field director, calling her relationship with him “excellent.”
“He’s highly motivated. He’s like the Energizer Bunny, and he gets it all done,” Grubbs told The Federalist. Grubbs said Trump Force 47 and the county are working on things like door-knocking and canvassing training.
“He’s been doing a lot of training and outreach into the community. He’s been signing people up like crazy canvassing, postcard-writing, and phone-banking,” Grubbs told The Federalist.
Grubbs, however, did express concerns about having access to basic campaign literature. “I would also say that there [have] been some issues with getting literature and signs and I don’t know what’s happening above [our Trump Force 47 director] as far as getting us what we need. He gets us what we need for what he’s got, but there’s just a lot of things that he doesn’t have at this point, so that’s a bit frustrating.”
Grubbs cited the need for sufficient signage and up-to-date literature on Vice President Kamala Harris. “It’s extremely important to have literature and signage,” Grubbs said. “We’ve got to be able to resupply signs and figure out a way to keep people from stealing them.”
Still, while “some of the other party stuff remains to be seen, I would say now versus 2020 — I wasn’t the chair — but I feel like [the Trump campaign is] pretty well engaged.”
Fulton County
Fulton County Republican Chairwoman Stephanie Endres told The Federalist that operations, both those led by the county and those coordinated with the Trump campaign, are different this go around.
Endres said her county is working with other organizations like Turning Point Action and Greater Georgia “to align resources [and] not replicate work, because in 2020 there wasn’t a ground game.”
“People weren’t talking, counties weren’t connected, there wasn’t a lot going on in Georgia,” Endres said. “But that’s not the case now.”
Endres said the county is working on sending postcards, calling voters, and door-knocking — an effort it’s not alone in.
“We’re fully engaged with Trump Force 47, and they’re fully embedded with precinct captains — and that’s one of the huge partnerships we have as well,” Endres told The Federalist. “They’re doing trainings. They’re leading the trainings with their people and managing their process, and … the same people who are walking for Trump Force 47 are walking for our candidates as well.”
“I am pleased with their engagement. If I need something, I know I can ask for it or at least get some sort of support.”
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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