Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump is staffing up in key battleground states in the wake of fellow Washington outsiders Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina inching closer in the polls.
Trump’s campaign announced Friday that it has hired state directors to oversee the GOP candidate’s ground operations in Florida, Virginia and Texas. The newest additions to Trump’s camp are part of a hiring spree that began last week when the billionaire announced his installment of campaign directors in Georgia and Tennessee, and a field director in Virginia.
“We are in this to win it,” Trump said in a statement released Friday. “These staff additions are the continuation of our plan to have a strategic and significant presence across the country.”
A Jacksonville University poll of Florida Republicans taken last week shows Trump leading former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in his own state by nearly 8 percentage points. To grow his support in the Sunshine State, the New York billionaire has hired Karen Giorno, a former adviser to Gov. Rick Scott, as his Florida state director.
In Virginia, won by Mitt Romney in 2012 after only one other candidate made the primary ballot and a key swing state in the general election, Trump has placed his operation under the direction of Michael Rubino, a campaign veteran who’s worked to elect conservatives in nine states. This includes Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, who rode into Congress in 2014 following an unexpected primary victory over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Corbin Casteel, a long-time political strategist and former Republican National Committee staffer will spearhead Trump’s campaign in Texas as his state director there. According to Politico, Casteel had previously called Trump “a joke” in an article appearing in the San Antonio Express-News in August.
“I don’t know of anyone in the party who looks at him like a fellow Republican. He’s an entertainer,” Casteel reportedly said of Trump at the time.
“By adding to our team in these critical states we will be able to build on the tremendous support we have received and share our message with even more voters in these states,” Trump said Friday, adding, “I look forward to being in these states even more as I continue to share my ideas about how to put America back on top!”
The real estate mogul was expected to host a rally in Virginia late Friday afternoon, but was forced to postpone the event, which sold out within an hour after tickets were made available online, due to weather concerns related to Hurricane Joaquin.
