Six hours into Election Day, the Trump team is growing confident that the “red wave” of voters it is banking on to reelect the president is showing up at the polls in some 12 battleground states.
“Our people are showing up,” said one insider.
[Related: Democrats’ early voting lead in Florida evaporates in first few hours of Election Day voting]
While the Biden campaign has already started to talk about having “multiple pathways” to an Electoral College victory, those working for President Trump said that their blueprint has not changed.
“We’ve done better” with the get-out-the-vote effort, said a Trump adviser.
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon: “We continue to have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes” says they can win 270 even without PA and FL
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) November 3, 2020
Officials also continued to push back against a Democratic effort to block the picking of a winner on Tuesday, explaining that if results come in as planned, a Trump victory will be indisputable.
On Monday, Nick Trainer, the Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategy, said the Trump-Pence campaign expected a huge in-person turnout. “In a lot of places across the country, Election Day is going to look like a Trump rally,” he said.
On Tuesday, based on updates to the campaign every 15 minutes from the ground team, long lines have been seen in GOP strongholds in states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Iowa, Maine, and New Hampshire, said an official, adding that the campaign is meeting expectations in Minnesota and Michigan.
Unclear, and unstated, however, is the number of GOP voters who might be switching to Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, officials said there have been short lines in some key Democratic areas, such as Madison, Wisconsin, and Nevada’s Clark County Democratic stronghold.
Campaign and Republican National Committee get-out-the-vote efforts are on the ground in all battleground states needed for a Trump electoral victory.
What’s more, several other surrogate groups are also working to get Trump voters to the polls.
Heritage Action, for example, has contacted 3.5 million swing voters and remains on the ground, and the Susan B. Anthony List also has teams to promote Trump’s pro-life record and get voters to the polls.
Via Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s Instagram stories… pic.twitter.com/rw16EkydSG
— Joshua Axelrod (@jaxel222) November 3, 2020
