GOP Pitching Donors on Trump Supporters, Independents
Republican fundraisers Tuesday pitched donors on last minute campaign contributions, including for Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke (above).
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Top Republicans briefed donors Tuesday with a week left to go before Election Day pitching them on excitement from Trump supporters and independents breaking their way with a hope Democratic excitement is waning in the final days.
In the presentation from GOP fundraiser Lisa Wagner, obtained by The Illinoize, Wagner says 70% of Trump voters are “very motivated” in the 2022 election.
Wagner also points to Republicans gaining ground on Democrats in recent polling, a sign independents are breaking their way.
“A fundamental midterm trend is taking hold: undecided voters breaking against the party in power,” she wrote. “The recent swing has almost entirely consisted of a rise in Republican vote share, rather than a dip in Democratic vote share.”
Republicans are also banking on the possibility that Democrats will be less motivated in states where abortion rights are not at risk, like Illinois. The presentation cites a statistic that 51% of voters in states with abortion bans are more motivated to vote, compared to 32% in states like Illinois.
The pitch asked donors to give to Supreme Court candidates Justice Michael Burke and former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, who are locked in high stakes battles to take the majority on the court.
The GOP donors were also pitched on six congressional races, the 6th (Casten/Pekau), 8th (Krishnamoorthi/Dargis), 11th (Foster/Lauf), 13th (Budzinski/Deering), 14th (Underwood/Gryder), and 17th (Sorensen/King).
The GOP operatives also believe pollsters are having a hard time gauging the anger of parents over school closures and that Trump-supporting, social media news consumers are the least likely to participate in polling.
“Independents were the largest group that failed to respond [to polling] at all,” the presentation says. “If the data is left unweighted, the possibly exists of overreporting the potential performance of Democrats.”
Democrats have vastly outspent Republicans in Illinois races thus far, and GOP operatives are hoping a last minute cash infusion an help some Republicans in tight races down the stretch.
