With the U.S. heading towards the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump appears to lead in polls across battleground states, yet, his campaign is intensifying its efforts to catch up on the ground.
Following President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, his campaign announced on Friday the initiation of a $30 million advertising initiative over six weeks and plans to significantly bolster staff numbers in key states.
The campaign disclosed it currently has 100 staff members on the ground and intends to add at least 350 more, as well as open 100 offices in March, signaling a robust push to galvanize support.
Both candidates are slated for appearances in Georgia this Saturday, a state that narrowly decided their 2020 contest, with Biden also visiting New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan in the upcoming week.
Trump is expected to visit Arizona, a state Biden narrowly clinched.
"Democrats are reinvigorated. My phone has been blowing up since last night and hasn’t stopped," said Cristóbal Alex, a former White House aide and senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden's aides view his State of the Union as the kickoff to the general election, especially after Trump's elimination of his last significant GOP rival, Nikki Haley.
While not disclosing specifics about its operations in key states, Trump's campaign expressed confidence in its preparedness and resource allocation.
Still, Trump is facing cash flow problems. By the end of January, his campaign had $30.5 million, while Biden had $56 million.
According to the report, Trump spent around $50 million on legal fees for the many criminal and civil cases against him. As for the Republican National Committee (RNC), it finished 2023 with only $8 million in cash and $1.8 million in debt.
However, the RNC reported raising over $22 million in January and February.
"The campaign has been in contact with professional operatives around the country for weeks in preparation for the general election and rapidly building out battleground state operations," said campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
The election battle, anticipated to be one of the earliest and most costly in modern history, is expected to pivot on critical issues such as abortion and immigration.
Both campaigns aim to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters, particularly in swing states that played a decisive role in the 2020 election.
Amid this, third-party candidates and independent groups are poised to play a significant role, potentially complicating the electoral landscape in battleground states.
As both campaigns gear up for a tightly contested race, the strategies employed in the coming months will be crucial in shaping the outcome of what promises to be a historic election showdown.
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo: Shutterstock
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