SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — President Trump’s re-election campaign met with Republican officials this week to endorse a new program as part of an overall strategy to boost voter turnout for the GOP ticket in critical 2020 battlegrounds.
Chris Carr, political director of the Trump campaign, was on hand as the Republican National Committee initiative was presented to GOP leaders gathered near Albuquerque for an annual winter business meeting. Dubbed GROW, the plan aims to strengthen party affiliates in states important to Trump’s re-election as part of a joint RNC-Trump campaign blueprint for implementing extensive data and field operations.
“We were pleased that the RNC launched the GROW program to build stronger state parties that will help us re-elect our president, Donald J. Trump, and elect GOP candidates up and down the ticket nationwide in 2020,” Carr told the Washington Examiner.
GROW, short for “Growing Republican Organizations to Win,” is in conjunction with the Trump campaign, under Carr’s direction. The Trump campaign is coordinating closely with the RNC, with the lines that normally separate an incumbent president’s campaign from the RNC virtually nonexistent. This program is another step toward running the Trump campaign and the national party as a seamless entity.
“The RNC is offering our resources and assistance to help state parties to win elections. This goes well beyond fundraising,” said Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, during a speech to party members as she closed out the winter meeting in New Mexico on Friday.
In focusing on the state parties, GROW could revitalize atrophied GOP affiliates in crucial Electoral College battlegrounds, improving Trump’s prospects for a second term.
For example, winning Pennsylvania is a major component of the president’s re-election strategy. Trump in 2016 was the first Republican to carry the state in decades, pushing him past Democrat Hillary Clinton. But the Pennsylvania Republican Party more than two years later is beset by organizational and financial challenges, and some GOP insiders worry Trump’s re-election could be in jeopardy if matters aren’t resolved.
That’s what GROW is designed to do.
The program is open to any state party that chooses to participate and covers areas such as volunteer training, fundraising, voter contact, and voter registration. But it comes with limits. Rather than just throwing money at underperforming affiliates, the RNC and the Trump campaign are going to require them to meet certain performance metrics. Those thresholds will be customized to fit the political conditions in each state.
In that way, Carr modeled GROW after the Young Guns program for House candidates that is run by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Through Young Guns, the NRCC offers participating House candidates increased strategic, organizational, and fundraising assistance, but only if they do their part and hit goals laid out by the committee.
Henry Barbour, a veteran GOP operative and RNC committeeman from Mississippi, said GROW could make a difference on the ground next year.
“The GROW program is focused on the nuts and bolts of party building,” he said.
