The RNC chairman spent years — and tens of millions of dollars — quietly building the machine that paved the way for Trump’s upset win.
The RNC’s get-out-the-vote infrastructure was by far the most robust in the party’s history, consisting of 315 field offices staffed by 7,600 paid employees and fellows who knocked on 24 million doors and logged 26 million phone calls. Without the RNC operation, Trump’s ground game would have been dwarfed by that of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, since his campaign invested relatively little in field staff.
For instance, as of the beginning of September, Trump’s campaign had only one field office in the pivotal state of Florida versus Clinton’s 51. The RNC, by contrast, by Election Day had 62 offices and 1,173 paid staff and organizers in the Sunshine State, which Trump narrowly carried.
.. When the billionaire real estate developer’s campaign appeared to be spiraling toward a landslide loss during a dreadful summertime stretch, Priebus rejected callsfrom Republican insiders to redirect funding away from Trump to instead save down-ballot Republicans.
.. “Despite being ridiculed and criticized by some quarters, the chair stood by his nominee — defended him, counseled him and helped him — all the attributes that many in Washington lack,” said veteran GOP strategist Chris LaCivita.
.. some of Priebus’ top RNC aides — past and present — held a conference call with reporters to make the case that Priebus’ ground game and data surge was a big risk that brought intense criticism but ultimately paid off.
.. The resultant $175-million investment in voter data and modeling, as well as heavy spending on field offices and online fundraising, allowed the Trump campaign to plug into a fully operational campaign infrastructure.
.. “They targeted rural white voters to blow the turnout model,” Duga said. “Reince Priebus didn’t win this election. He led an effort to place a candidate in as many rural venues as possible using fear as a tactic to divide and conquer.”