ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched a multi-million dollar investment program in Florida and seven other battleground states on Wednesday, an investment that party officials said that they had not made at this point in the 2016 election cycle.
- Florida's 29 electoral votes most of any swing-state in U.S.
- President Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by 1.3 points in 2016.
- Republicans say they are vastly outspending the Democrats so far in the election cycle.
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DNC spokespeople (who only spoke on background on a conference call) said that the “Battleground Buildup 2020” program includes funding that will double the number of field organizers across the eight states, as well as as providing for more data staff and additional operations staff.
The other seven states in the program are Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
The announcement comes less than a week after Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, announced that it will spend more than $12 million in television and digital ads attacking President Trump beginning in March, with nearly $5 million alone earmarked for the Tampa Bay region.
DNC officials said that the Battlegound Buildup 2020 plan would be just the first investment of the election season.
“The DNC is making historic, early investments to lay the groundwork for our eventual nominee to win in 2020. We are taking nothing for granted as we work to make Trump a one-term president and win up and down the ballot in 2020,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez in a statement.
President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Florida by 1.3 points in the 2016 election.
A DNC official said on the call that Democrats will put an emphasis on persuading voters along the I-4 corridor running from Tampa to Orlando, as well as in South Florida, a traditional Democratic stronghold where it’s important to drive the margins up to offset Republican dominance in other parts of the state.
Republicans were not impressed.
"Democrats are broke and they continue to lose in Florida. We look forward winning again in 2020," Trump Victory spokesperson Emma Vaughn told Spectrum Bay News 9 in an email.
Republicans say that they have engaged over 10,000 grassroots supporters in Florida in 2019, including "MAGA meetups" whenever President Trump comes to Florida for campaign rallies, and "TVLI Training" events, which are training programs for volunteers and neighborhood team leaders on the newest campaign technology, leadership and organizing tactics.
The RNC and the Trump campaign raised a total of $154 mllion in the fourth quarter of 2019, and raised a total of $464 million in 2019. They have a total of $195 million cash-on-hand.