President Trump is opening 15 urban campaign field offices in an aggressive bid to improve his performance with black voters, who for decades have been an overwhelmingly Democratic constituency.
Sleek and situated in retail shopping districts to generate foot traffic, this unique collection of regional “community centers” is a critical component of the Trump campaign’s multimillion-dollar strategy to double in 2020 the 8% support the president received from black voters nearly four years ago. Senior Trump campaign officials unveiled office design mock-ups and fresh “Black Voices for Trump” merchandise during a Wednesday briefing for reporters.
“You’re never going to get the votes you don’t ask for,” said Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser. “Last time, it was, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’ Now, we’re going to show them what they’ve gained from President Trump and what more they can gain if they get four more years.”
Five offices are slated for Florida: Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. In North Carolina, branches are opening in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro. Others will be located in Atlanta, Detroit, Columbus, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee. The hubs, among 330 field offices across the country, mark a departure from the typical ramshackle, strip-mall field office outpost.
With Democrats embroiled in a bitter presidential primary and some leading contenders having trouble winning over black voters, the Trump campaign is confident there is a serious opportunity for the president to exceed the Republican Party’s usual vote share with this crucial bloc.
[Opinion: Democrats should be very afraid of Trump’s powerful pitch to black voters]
Trump has retired the ad hoc “What the hell do you have to lose?” pitch to black voters from 2016 and replaced it with a sophisticated targeting operation with tailored messaging and policy appeals. Top Trump campaign aides said the strategy is already paying dividends, with internal data showing that the president enjoys the support of approximately 20% of black voters.
“We test when you hear the president directly versus hear him through a media filter. Sometimes, the difference in approval [among black voters] is 40-50 points,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said.
The Trump campaign’s strategy represents a break with the Republican Party’s traditional resistance to identity politics, with the president urging black voters to support the president because he has pardoned and commuted the prison sentences of nonviolent black offenders as part of his commitment to criminal justice reform. Trump is also touting his support for more taxpayer funding for historically black colleges and universities and school choice for poor, inner-city children.
Democratic strategists already focused on how best to defeat Trump in the fall concede they are concerned about their party’s ability to turn out black voters in November.
Black Democrats are less enthusiastic about showing up to vote in the fall than Democratic voters broadly, said Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for Priorities USA. This group, the primary super PAC assisting the Democratic Party’s campaign against Trump, has poured over reams of data looking for Democratic vulnerabilities and has concluded that black voters could pave the way for a second Trump term.
Schwerin seemed less concerned that Trump could boost black support than that his campaign and other Republicans would commit what he regards as “suppression” of the black vote — either through legislation in the states or subversive messaging that demonizes the eventual Democratic nominee. Either way, Democrats have to resist the urge to take the black vote for granted, he said, echoing other veteran party insiders.
“Democrats and our nominee are going to need to invest early and put in the work to earn the support of black voters,” Schwerin said. “We have to earn it.”
