RNC Pushes to Incorporate Trump Voters Into GOP's Base

One of the big questions surrounding this election has been whether President Trump can transfer his stunning 2016 success into victory for his party in the more challenging environment of a midterm election. Many Trump voters were first-time Republican voters -- some even first-time voters in decades -- something the Republican National Committee realized early in the 2018 cycle. The trick is keeping them on board when Trump himself isn’t on the ballot.

To do so, GOP officials are trying to tap into the president’s unorthodox energy on the campaign trail at “Make America Great Again” rallies and use that to bolster traditional get-out-the-vote efforts.

In Texas, for example, Trump’s massive rally last week had people standing in line over a day in advance to ensure they would get in. RNC officials, desperate to blunt the insurgent senatorial candidacy of rising Democratic star Beto O’Rourke, gathered the names of those Trumpsters at the Houston rally and sent everyone a text reminding them to vote for O’Rourke’s opponent: incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

“The president’s rallies are motivating people who came out to vote specifically for him in 2016 to come out again and vote for the entire Republican ticket,” said RNC spokeswoman Cassie Smedile. “While texting has become a popular tool in politics, generally, the rallies give us the unique ability to ask our core supporters to take an action, in this case vote, at the exact moment they are most likely to do it.”

Of those contacted, which includes everyone who RSVP’d to the rally, 16,000 clicked on the link sent via the text. The link took them to the GOP’s website with voting location and absentee ballot request information. The RNC has been using this texting system all through the election cycle to provide information and to stay in contact.