Facing Harris’s Momentum, Trump Allies Plan $45 Million Ground Game

A new super PAC was formed to supplement the Trump-Vance campaign’s efforts to mobilize voters in swing states.

Listen to this article · 5:43 min Learn more

  • Share full article

Facing Harris’s Momentum, Trump Allies Plan $45 Million Ground Game | INFBusiness.com

Donald J. Trump chose JD Vance in part because he was close with some major donors from the tech industry. Some of those contributors are among those involved in a donor collective supporting Mr. Trump.

Allies of Senator JD Vance of Ohio are aiming to spend $45 million on a super PAC campaign to mobilize swing-state voters in support of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, according to a memo circulated to donors.

The super PAC, Turnout for America, is being spearheaded by Christopher Buskirk, a close friend and political ally of Mr. Vance who has been developing a donor network with help from the Ohio senator that includes some of Mr. Trump’s wealthiest backers.

In the memo from Mr. Buskirk seen by The New York Times, Turnout for America claims to have trained a network of at least 945 canvassers, “who are ready for deployment” in seven battleground states.

.

The group, which has come together quickly this month, is finishing an agreement to share data and coordinate voter mobilization with the Trump campaign, according to two people with knowledge of the effort who requested anonymity to discuss it. In the week before the memo was sent, the group said it had received donations and commitments for more than $5 million and was “actively raising the balance” toward its $45 million goal. Mr. Buskirk, who made some money in the insurance business, has strong relationships with tech donors. He runs a venture-capital firm called 1789 Capital that specializes in investing in companies and products popular with conservatives.

Mr. Buskirk’s effort is underway as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ de facto nominee, is riding a wave of fund-raising and organizing momentum after President Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her. In the week after Ms. Harris began consolidating the party’s support, her campaign said it had raised more than $200 million, had gained 170,000 new volunteers and had begun investing in ground operations in states that had seemed out of reach with Mr. Biden atop the ticket.

Ms. Harris’s campaign told supporters on a video call on Tuesday night that it had “the support, resources and campaign infrastructure” to “play offense” in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, as well as the so-called blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Source: nytimes.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *