Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the College Republican National Committee must begin to coordinate election efforts, even as the group continues to bleed members.
Some may argue that the CRNC’s split will decentralize campaign efforts in key congressional races. There are certainly reasons to believe that the CRNC drama will negatively affect Republican organizing efforts in 2022. During the 2020 election cycle, the CRNC recruited hundreds of students as part of its “Volunteer Strike Force.”
The CRNC also invested substantial resources into the Georgia runoff elections earlier this year. The committee organized phone banks and offered prizes to the top three callers during its January “Day of Action.” The CRNC also sent volunteers to Georgia, providing flights and reimbursing gas costs. A split within the College Republicans could make coordinating and financing such efforts more difficult.
However, one must remember that individual state federations also put in a significant amount of work during the 2020 election cycle.
The Florida state federation secured nearly 1 million voter contacts despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricane season. The New York federation apparently obtained approximately 10,000 voter contacts during one weekend of action for now-Rep. Andrew Garbarino.
And some groups, such as the California College Republicans, have been able to continue their election work without the CRNC’s assistance. In 2019, CCR had its charter revoked by the CRNC, which awarded it to the California Federation of College Republicans.
In a statement provided to the Washington Examiner, CCR Communications Director Dylan Martin said that the organization made “hundreds of thousands of calls” for candidates, including Mike Garcia, Young Kim, and Michelle Steel, who all won their races. On a single day, according to Martin, the CCR made 75,000 calls for Garcia.
Martin added that fundraising numbers have increased to $24,000 today, up from $22,000 raised in fiscal year 2018. He also pointed out that the CCR also sent 15 volunteers to Georgia and knocked on over 7,000 doors during the special Senate election.
Should these figures be accurate, it would seem that membership in the CRNC (or lack thereof) will not make a difference in campaigning efforts during the 2022 midterm elections, especially in more localized House races. However, as more states take part in the exodus from the national group, this will become more uncertain.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the College Republican National Committee for comment Monday morning. It did not respond by the filing deadline of this article.
Samuel Kim is a commentary desk intern at the Washington Examiner and an active member in the Cornell University College Republicans.
