FROM: RNC Political Director Chris McNulty
TO: Republican Allies and Surrogates
RE: RNC Ground Game
After today's election, many of you have been asking about the RNC's
role in New Jersey and Virginia this year-and about what we've been doing to
prepare for 2014.
As you know, the RNC began a long-term process earlier this year to
build a year-round campaign and fundamentally reshape the party's approach to
politics. Among our priorities were developing a precinct-based voter contact
model, creating a voter engagement strategy for minority communities, and
better integrating data and digital capabilities to make voter contact more
efficient.
These are still works in progress. The new strategies will be fully in
place for 2014. However this year's elections did allow us to test some new
models and new ideas. In New Jersey, we accelerated our demographic engagement
plans. In Virginia, we focused especially on improving the voter contact model
and utilizing new methods and technology. The lessons we learned will be
applied in 2014.
Here are some of things we did
in New Jersey:
•The RNC spent $2.5 million to support Chris Christie and the
Republican ticket, while building the party's presence in New Jersey.
•The RNC had 32 staff in New Jersey, stationed in 20 offices, eight of
which were paid for by the RNC.
•Two of the offices, located in Paterson and Vineland, were dedicated
to Hispanic engagement and bilingual voter contact. This investment helped the
New Jersey Republican Party and the Christie campaign contact and identify new
Republican voters.
•On-the-ground Hispanic engagement activities were coordinated with our
state advisory team of 15 county chairs. (By next year, the team will have
grown to 40 new chairs in targeted precincts.)
•African American engagement staff ensured Republicans had a presence
at events and gathering across the state, ready to pass out literature and
share our message.
•Republicans attended everything from civic and religious events to
high school competitions, from an annual Alpha Kappa Alpha gathering to rallies
for African American candidates.
•The Christie campaign utilized RNC offices to hold Asian-Pacific
American phone banks and to organize the canvassing operation.
•With a record number of Republican women running for office in New
Jersey, the RNC Co-Chair's office helped launched Project New Jersey, along
with sister organizations and committees, to provide training and support for
these candidates.
Here's a look at Virginia:
•The RNC spent $3 million to support Ken Cuccinelli and the Republican
ticket, while building the party's presence in Virginia.
•In getting out the vote for Cuccinelli and the Republican ticket, we
tested our new precinct-based voter contact model.
•Precinct Teams, led by Precinct Captains, canvassed neighborhoods
using RNC data and new technology.
•This allowed for a more decentralized approach: individuals could
focus on neighborhoods with which they were familiar.
•By October, we already had twice as many data points as we did at the
same point in 2012.
•We had 50 offices, which was more than 2012.
•We had 60 staff on the ground, on par with 2012.
•Our Virginia-based staff included four dedicated to Asian-Pacific
American engagement, two for African American engagement, and one for Hispanic
engagement.
•On the communications side, the RNC equipped campaigns with
comprehensive communications plans for engaging with minority communities.
•The RNC ran ads on Korean TV, commissioned a poll of Korean residents
and tested targeted digital ads-in addition to other efforts to reach new
voters.
Building a truly national party with a year-round presence takes time.
But in just a few short months we've made much progress. We already have
hundreds of staff at work in communities all across the country. Under our new
grassroots-based ground game model, we're organizing at the precinct level, and
our staff will work alongside state parties and campaigns to support a team of
thousands of Precinct Captains we've already recruited. They in turn will be
responsible for building Precinct Teams to contact and persuade voters
neighborhood by neighborhood.
We've made substantial investments in engaging with Hispanic, African
American, and Asian-Pacific communities, including staff and offices in
Washington, DC, and multiple states. These efforts are based on the same model
and organized down to the precinct level. In addition, the RNC is providing
playbooks to campaigns for effective minority engagement, giving them resources
they otherwise would not have.
All of this work is long-term.
It's about winning in 2014. It's also about 2016, 2020, and beyond. It's about
laying a foundation for future candidates and campaigns.
The RNC's mission is to prepare the field for our candidates. Our work
continues on in 2014, and we will refine our approach based on what we learned
from 2013.
Gone are the days of stockpiling money till a few months before
Election Day. The RNC is operating year round and engaging year round. Over the
long term, we believe this approach will pay dividends and result in a larger
party that wins more elections.
My friend, Tim Gibson, noticed the
overwhelming racial-interest and lack of concern where politics are
concerned. Here's his take on it:
The Republican National Committee’s
memorandum released Wednesday afternoon should be troubling to anyone wishing to give money to the
national party in the future in the state of Virginia and across the country.
The next-day quarterbacking memo takes on the divide-and-conquer tactics of the
Democratic Party by separating the American people into a number of minority
groups instead of focusing on a cohesive set of ideas that unite the citizenry.
Titled “RNC Ground Game”, the
document gives a blow- by-blow of all the alleged work the national GOP claimed
to engage in over the Virginia and New Jersey state elections in the 2013
cycle.
Most telling is the lack of
familiarity with state and national issues in the memo. No mention of the
failed rollout of Obamacare, the sluggish national economy, nor the National
Security Agency’s controversial citizen spying programs.
Instead the memorandum takes a
disturbing turn, segregating the American people into various racial groups
instead of speaking of the ideas that unite us all.
We've made substantial investments in engaging with Hispanic, African
American, and Asian-Pacific communities, including staff and offices in
Washington, DC, and multiple states,” the memo sent out by RNC Political
Director Chris McNulty. “These efforts are based on the same model and
organized down to the precinct level. In addition, the RNC is providing
playbooks to campaigns for effective minority engagement, giving them resources
they otherwise would not have.
In Virginia, the GOP strategists
felt the Asian-Pacific demographic could turn the tide for Ken Cuccinelli:
•Our Virginia-based staff included four dedicated to Asian-Pacific
American engagement, two for African American engagement, and one for Hispanic
engagement.
•On the communications side, the RNC equipped campaigns with
comprehensive communications plans for engaging with minority communities.
•The RNC ran ads on Korean TV, commissioned a poll of Korean residents
and tested targeted digital ads-in addition to other efforts to reach new
voters
According to the last U.S. Census,
Asian Americans in Virginia only make up 6-percent of population. In
comparison, the African-American community makes up 19.7-percent of the
population. The GOP only devoted two staff members to the black demographic
while four staff members in Virginia were dedicated to the Asian demographic.
Even more startling is that the GOP had a black conservative running for the
state’s Lieutenant Governor in E.W. Jackson, but failed to mention how the
party used his candidacy to support or utilize his experiences to reach out to
African-Americans.
A similar racially focused plan was
also used in the national party’s efforts in New Jersey:
•Two of the offices, located in Paterson and Vineland, were dedicated
to Hispanic engagement and bilingual voter contact. This investment helped the
New Jersey Republican Party and the Christie campaign contact and identify new
Republican voters.
•On-the-ground Hispanic engagement activities were coordinated with our
state advisory team of 15 county chairs. (By next year, the team will have
grown to 40 new chairs in targeted precincts.)
•African American engagement staff ensured Republicans had a presence
at events and gathering across the state, ready to pass out literature and
share our message.
•Republicans attended everything from civic and religious events to
high school competitions, from an annual Alpha Kappa Alpha gathering to rallies
for African American candidates.
•The Christie campaign utilized RNC offices to hold Asian-Pacific
American phone banks and to organize the canvassing operation.
In Virginia, The GOP also failed to
support the Cuccinelli campaign financially as revealed by the memorandum. The
national Republican Party only spent $3 million on the race. However, it should be noted that the Party
spent $500,000 less to support New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
These are still works in progress. The new strategies will be fully in
place for 2014. However this year's elections did allow us to test some new
models and new ideas.
Tuesday night in Virginia should
not have been a test for the GOP to experiment with failed strategies. Instead,
it should have been a night to claim victories and build momentum for 2014.
