Charlie Kirk, founder and president of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, said on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump's success in the Republican primaries is not a sign for the GOP to take its foot off the gas pedal.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee embarking on his third general election (he won in 2016 and lost in 2020), is fully on his way to a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in November after nearly sweeping the Super Tuesday GOP presidential primaries. His campaign forges on and faces an even bigger spotlight after former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday.
Polls show varying results, according to FiveThirtyEight's collection of national polls updated on Tuesday. Biden narrowly beats Trump in two of the last six serious surveys, Trump leads in three and one is tied. Polls show that concerns over age negatively impact Biden, 81, much more than Trump, 78, and issues like immigration have catapulted to the forefront of Republicans' minds according to exit polls conducted by CNN and NBC News on Tuesday.
"Ignore the polls. This race is about to tighten," Kirk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday after Haley dropped out. "They control everything and will spend billions to 'bury' Trump with campaign cash. Get to work. Chase ballots. Register voters. Stay humble."
Kirk referred to a story in Politico, highlighting the drastic discrepancy in campaign funds between Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC). The disparity was about $41 million between both partisan factions, according to figures in late February published by the Federal Election Commission.
Pro-Biden super PACs Future Forward and American Bridge 21st Century already have committed to a massive ad blitz of $250 million and $200 million, respectively. Those figures are just part of a campaign with allies who reportedly want to spend more than $700 million to help defeat Trump.
American Bridge said in a January 12 announcement that it is "making a 360-degree effort to defeat Donald Trump" similar to efforts put forward in the 2020 election, including $140 million in paid spending.
"Another Donald Trump presidency would mean disaster for Americans who value their rights," American Bridge 21st Century founder Bradley Beychok said in January. "We know exactly how to beat Donald Trump. We've done it before, and our paid media strategy is a big part of how we're going to do it again."
Republican National Committee spokesperson Emma Vaughn referred Newsweek to a Politico story from last week in which RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel sent a letter to 168 RNC members, touting a campaign funding haul of $22.5 million in January and February, described as the RNC's best first two months of any year in which the party did not occupy the White House.
It was also reportedly $8 million more than what was expected to be raised in that two-month period.
"President Trump once delivered a booming economy, secure border, energy independence, and America's strength on the world stage, the exact opposite of the chaos created by Joe Biden," McDaniel said in a statement Wednesday.
"Republican voters have spoken loud and clear with historically large margins and we are more united than ever to beat Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot in November."
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Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
