When Ivanka Trump hits four states in four days for her father’s campaign, she will be joining a family-first political strategy designed to dominate news bulletins in key swing states.
On Monday, campaign officials announced that she would be appearing in North Carolina later that day, followed in short order by Arizona, Texas (for a fundraising event), and Florida.
But that is still small beer compared with Don Jr. After appearing with Kid Rock in Michigan on Monday, the president’s eldest son is due to head to seven more states, headline five Make America Great Again rallies, four small-business events, four fundraisers, and record about 20 local media hits.
While other presidents have leaned on their children during campaign seasons, analysts say few have done it with as much fanfare as President Trump, mirroring the way he runs his businesses.
Campaign strategists point out how Eric and Don Jr. can appeal to the rural Trump base, while Ivanka is better placed to woo women voters and independents in swing states.
“She is one of those people that can sell the president’s agenda and story and case for reelection in an incredible way,” said a senior campaign official on a conference call with reporters. “And you know, if I can get her out there for four days a week from here till Election Day, I feel a lot better about where we stand.”
She joins other family members who are already making multiple appearances a week.
Last week, Don Jr. did 15 events, including three rallies. Eric Trump is in Georgia this week, and his wife, Lara, has been traveling on the Women for Trump bus.
Don Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News host, is also a senior adviser to the campaign and, as well as sharing a stage with her boyfriend, will headline her own events in the final weeks of the campaign, according to a source close to the family.
The source added that the result was something much closer to a conventional campaign, using star power to generate “earned media” in key local markets, than the strategy being pursued by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
“The real point of this is to get local earned media and to dominate swing district DMAs for the next 50 days,” he said, referring to designated market areas, or media markets.
The strategy harks back to 2016, when Trump’s upstart campaign relied on headlines and TV coverage of his boisterous rallies.
This time around, both sides must contend with the impact of COVID-19 and limitations on in-person campaigning.
While Trump’s offspring and surrogate in-laws take to the road, Biden’s campaign is leaning more heavily on TV advertising. The Democratic nominee is expected to outspend his rival in the final weeks of the race, with $181 million booked in television and radio ad spending, compared with the Trump campaign’s $156 million, according to data collected by Advertising Analytics.
The Trump family source added that Democrats had no one with the same sort of star power as Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, and Lara Trump willing to stump nonstop.
“I expect them to get Barack Obama or Hillary for a few rallies here or there, but I don’t expect Obama to say, ‘Yeah, put me on the road for the next four weeks straight,’” he said.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Joshua Kendall, presidential historian and most recently author of First Dads: Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack Obama, said presidents throughout history had used their family in campaigns.
“The difference is that previous presidents in the last half-century, most of the children did it sub rosa, where they really weren’t such public figures,” he said.
Jimmy Carter’s son Chip, for example, was a Democratic activist knocking on doors and helping build his father’s profile, but his role was not widely known beyond party insiders, added Kendall. So, too, did George W. Bush campaign for his father in the days when he was known as a baseball owner rather than a political figure.
Trump’s marketing strategy had turned his children into the closest thing America has to a royal family, ensuring they earn coverage wherever they go.
“To some extent, Ivanka, even if she wasn’t in the White House, is sort of royalty,” he said. “Trump has played that up more than other presidents. Other presidents haven’t really given their kids a public role.”
