The Republican National Committee promises better, smarter voter turnout programs for the 2016 presidential election, the RNC’s leader said Wednesday. The new programs will operate on an all-the-time basis and, in a switch from previous practice, will be available to GOP primary candidates rather than being available just for the nominee in the general election.
“As we begin our road to the White House there are going to be new and bigger demands on our digital, data and technology teams. I look forward to working with my team as we expand our mission building on our successes from the midterms,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.
With memories of Mitt Romney’s unloved Project Orca fading, Priebus, fresh off large GOP congressional gains in November, must prepare the party’s eventual nominee to compete in what is expected to be a billion-dollar-plus campaign.
The RNC has reorganized its digital voter-turnout operation to take the software from a midterm to a presidential footing and has made a series of senior staff changes in the digital, data and technology departments. To accommodate the demands of a national campaign, the RNC is hiring more personnel, developing new technology and launching a major fundraising push.
The fundraising pressure increases exponentially for the RNC heading into 2016. The committee invested more than $100 million in the 2014 election cycle to build from scratch and operate its digital get-out-the-vote programs. This cycle, the party has obligations to raise millions of dollars through the “Presidential Trust” for the eventual White House nominee, and millions more to expand and run its data shop.
The RNC has determined a projected budget for this but committee officials declined to reveal specifics. Expansion and refinement plans include items as simple as new features at the RNC’s “GOP.com” website as well as labor-heavy, technologically complex changes including:
• Voter file “hygiene.” Much voter targeting data depends on accurate voter lists that are constantly updated by state and local agencies. The RNC invests time and personnel to update its voter rolls.
• Data hosting environment. Housing and sharing the massive amounts of data the RNC has collected and continues to aggregate since going digital requires regular improvement, and the committee is in the process of another major upgrade.
• Expanded voter scores and analytics. With the launch of its digital program after the 2012 elections, the RNC increased the amount of data it relies on to forecast voter behavior by a factor of 38, or 9.6 billion “modeled data points.” For the 2016 race, the committee plans to grow the amount of micro targeting data it collects.
• Online donor prospecting. Democrats have held the advantage over Republicans in accessing small online campaign contributions that are very cost effective to raise. The RNC plans to invest more money to develop a relationship with these types of donors, who tend to be younger and more tech savvy.
• Multi-channel marketing. The RNC is upping its advertising budget to reach people in social media communities. This sort of effort, employed by the RNC for the first time last cycle, was pioneered by President Obama’s campaigns and is an effective way to reach supporters, find out what makes them tick, and raise money.
• More technology. The RNC is investing in new applications for mobile devices like iPhones to be used by volunteers who go door to door to target voters. The committee also is spending money to refine the technology that allows party committees and other approved users to access and use all of the RNC’s data.
The RNC’s digital GOTV programs are going to be accessible to all approved candidates who seek the party’s White House nomination. The committee declined to reveal what the conditions for access are going to be, but officials said the party is in talks with the prospective candidates. Broadly, some sort of declaration of actual candidacy is going to be required to access the RNC’s data for the primary campaign.
The RNC’s digital and data analytics voter turnout programs were developed following Mitt Romney’s disappointing loss to Obama in the 2012 presidential election. The president’s operation, years in the making, were vastly superior to what was then a very antiquated Republican operation.
Priebus also determined that the demands of a competitive, modern GOTV program required a system that operates year-around — every year. In 2012, as in every presidential election before in which the incumbent was not a Republican, the RNC would wait until a nominee was crowned and then spend the four months before the general election hastily assembling voter turnout mechanisms.
Priebus’ new approach was tested last year and received rave reviews from successful GOP candidates. The party picked up nine seats in the Senate, winning control of the chamber for the first time in eight years, while adding to its majority in the House by a dozen seats. In an interview with the Washington Examiner five days before the November elections, the RNC provided what turned out to be very accurate forecasts of GOP victories in competitive Senate races.
On Tuesday, the RNC announced staff changes, with Deputy Chief of Staff Chuck DeFeo leaving to take a job with i360, a data analytics firm that is a part of a group of political entities under the umbrella of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. Also departing: Chief Technology Officer Andy Barkett, the main brain behind the RNC’s digital offerings. Barkett will continue to advise the committee on technology issues. Replacing them are GOP digital strategist Mindy Finn; Azarias Reda, the RNC’s current chief digital officer; and Jesse Kamzol, Reda’s deputy.
Reda was promoted to succeed Barkett, and Kamzol was bumped up to chief data officer. Finn was hired from the outside. Politico first reported the news of the staff changes.
