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President Donald Trump is making a late multimillion-dollar push to increase Republican turnout in Tuesday’s statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, seeking to mobilize voters who often skip off-year contests.
The president’s political team is directing about $1 million to each state for get-out-the-vote microtargeting, according to a report over the weekend.
“What you’ve seen just in the last couple of days is the president and all of our Republican forces have put even more money behind our efforts to turn out our votes because that’s what it’s gonna come down to,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said Saturday on Fox News.
President Trump lost both states in the last presidential election, but made gains there. New Jersey and Virginia hold their gubernatorial elections the year after a presidential race, often drawing national attention as early political tests. This year’s contests are viewed as the first major voter response to Trump’s agenda since he took office for a second time.
The new funding, first reported by Axios, is supporting the RNC’s 72-hour turnout program. Operatives are identifying low propensity Republican voters and contacting them through calls, digital outreach and targeted social media ads.
President Trump has not held in-person campaign events in either state, but he has appeared remotely. He joined Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on a tele-rally Thursday to encourage Republican turnout in the races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. He also held a tele-rally with New Jersey Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli ahead of the start of early voting and is expected to do another before Tuesday.
Democrats have invested heavily as well. The Democratic National Committee has spent more than $7 million on voter outreach and organizing in New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, where three state Supreme Court seats are also on the ballot.
Recent polling shows former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger with a lead over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears in Virginia, though the contest remains close. In New Jersey, surveys show Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill slightly ahead of Ciattarelli as he seeks to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy.