Trump's 15 state strategy includes Illinois, but the RNC's strategy does not - CNN image
CHICAGO – The Republican National Committee doesn't consider Illinois a competitive swing state, despite a Republican governor and a Republican U.S Senator, because the RNC's National Training Day doesn't include the Land of Lincoln.
The RNC is investing in fourteen states Saturday at 150 locations to activate over 5000 volunteers for training and voter contact. The effort is in coordination with the Trump Campaign, State Parties, and House and Senate campaigns across the country as part of the RNC’s commitment to elect Republicans up and down the ballot.
“Since the Spring of 2013, the RNC has been building an unprecedented permanent field operation to help protect congressional majorities and send a Republican to the White House,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “After over 1,000 days of preparation and building community relationships, we are activating, training, and mobilizing thousands of volunteers in the first major organizing push of 2016. Donald Trump and the Republican ticket inherit a field operation that has already dedicated over one million organizing hours toward preparing for the general election, and a program that will be the largest and most robust data-driven operation in Party history.”
The Trump campaign has been promoting a 15-state strategy, which, CNN says, includes Illinois – despite the last time a Republican presidential won in Illinois was 1988. Trump said in a speech on May 26, "I put so many states in play: Michigan being one. Illinois."
But the RNC isn't as hopeful as Trump is. That doesn't bode well for the struggling campaign to re-elect Republican U.S Senator Mark Kirk just under Trump on the November ballot.
In a press release Saturday, the RNC says they have "put an increased emphasis on training staff, organizers, and volunteers to ensure the party has the most prepared and professional operation in GOP history."
Individuals at all levels of the field program receive frequent trainings and refresher trainings, and Saturday's National Training Day is the first of multiple large scale National Training Days before November to test the capacity of the RNC’s field program and train Neighborhood Teams. Future National Training Days will focus on reinforcing voter registration, persuasion, absentee ballot applications, and early voting training. Volunteers will also continue to learn how to integrate their canvassing efforts with a state-of-the-art data operation on which the RNC has spent $100 million dollars since 2013.
But Illinois isn't one of the states listed.
The RNC has had the permanent ground operation in place for over 1000 days, and currently has over 750 staff, including over 450 paid staffers in the field, months ahead of Election Day.
But not in Illinois.
National Training Day will take place in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah, Wisconsin – even deep blue California and New York.
But not Illinois.
