The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Trump campaign joined forces early on to create the “Trump Victory” movement, a joint operation focused on getting the president re-elected and sending Republicans to Washington. One of the challenges the party faces is Big Tech censorship and the mainstream media’s blatant disregard for any stories that negatively impact Democrats or are positive about President Trump. Just look at how the Hunter Biden story was basically squashed by the mainstream media. The main way Trump Victory has been successful in getting the word out is by booking campaign surrogates on various television shows across the country, with the primary focus being on local television and radio.
This maneuver allowed campaign surrogates to continually tout the messages of President Trump and the Republican Party. It has proven effective in combating media bias, especially when they select sound bites and clips. Surrogates are able to support major administration milestones, such as the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. It also gives the campaign the opportunity to flood critical media markets in battleground states to ensure Republicans win the Election Day vote.
“The RNC has spent the last three years building a robust surrogate booking operation to ensure the president’s biggest defenders appear on television and radio shows across the country. “Tens of thousands of interviews booked helped share many of the Trump administration’s historic successes with viewers and listeners in all 50 states,” RNC deputy communications director for media Johanna Persing told Townhall. “As we work on the campaign, we will continue our collective effort in the final hours of the campaign to deploy hundreds of surrogates over the airwaves to make the contrast on the ballot even clearer to voters.”
The RNC has invested more than $350 million in data tracking key issues in every state, allowing their data and analytics team to closely monitor voters and the issues that matter to them. It gives workers an idea of what deputies to send and what topics they should cover, which proved particularly effective last year in many key battleground states.
This year alone, Trump Victory has scheduled over 23,000 interviews. That’s almost four times as many as in 2016. During the 2018 midterm elections, 11,000 job interviews were booked, with a particular focus on swing districts. Now the focus has shifted to presidential swing states.
During Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, Trump Victory scheduled more than 900 interviews with her former officials, students, fellow Notre Dame law professors and other lawyers. This almost coincided with Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, which took place over an extended period of time.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan, deputies conducted more than 3,000 interviews in which they praised the president’s response. Their own studios were quickly set up for top campaign surrogates so they could continue conducting interviews despite state and local lockdowns.
Before the pandemic, campaign spokespeople often conducted on-camera interviews at President Trump’s MAGA rallies across the country.
The campaign also focused on specialty media, such as a high-energy lineup featuring Mercedes Schlapp on Spanish-language channels like Univision and Telemundo. Katrina Pierson frequently appears on black media such as the Black News Channel and the Armstrong Williams television show. Campaign co-chair Tommy Hicks frequently appears in Asian American stores and on digital platforms such as The Skimm podcast and MeatEater.
Key campaign substitutes include:
First family: Don Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Kim Guilfoyle
RNC officials: RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and RNC Co-Chair Tommy Hicks
Trump Victory spokespeople: Liz Harrington, Paris Dennard, Cassie Smedile, Hogan Gidley, Mercedes Schlapp, Erin Perrine and Tim Murtaugh
Black vote for members of Trump’s advisory board: Vernon Jones, Diante Johnson, Leo Terrell, Stacy Washington, Deneen Borelli, Alveda King, Ken Blackwell, Marc Little and TW Shannon
Current elected officials: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Senators Rick Scott (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Representatives Debbie Lesko (AZ), Mike Johnson (LA), Fred Keller (PA), Matt Gaetz (FL), Jim Jordan (OH), Michael Burgess (Texas), John Joyce (PA), Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Texas Governor Dan Patrick, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez
State GOP Chairman: Ohio GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken, Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox, Florida Chairwoman Joe Gruters, California Chairwoman Jessica Patterson and Texas Chairwoman Allen West.
