Ex-chair Priebus says RNC needs to focus on three key swing states

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Reince Priebus said the committee needs to focus on three key swing states in 2024, as the organization undergoes transitions and ramps up its efforts ahead of the general election.

Priebus said Friday on Fox News that he considers his recommendations “pretty simple stuff.”

“No. 1, at the committee, you gotta raise about $40 million in the next 60 days,” he said.

“No. 2, you have to put out paid workers — about 5,000 people in Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that are paid full-time, on the ground, targeting early vote, absentee ballot voting, using the data,” Priebus continued.  

Former President Trump clinched the Republican Party’s nomination this week, the same week the committee hit reset.

Just days after the RNC elected Michael Whatley to be its new chair and Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, to be its new co-chair, the organization slashed more than 60 positions.

Former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel brushed off financial concerns last year, but questions remain about how the committee will fund Trump’s race and congressional GOP races. In the past, Lara Trump said she would spend “every single penny" of the RNC’s money to help her father-in-law win reelection.

A major question moving forward is whether the party will pay for Trump’s legal bills; the former president has been ordered to pay more than $500 million in fines. He faces 91 felony charges across four indictments.

Priebus said the RNC should be investing in the three key swing states “now.” Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all turned blue in the 2020 presidential election, helping President Biden secure his victory over Trump.

The former chair added that “a lot of the other things,” such as continued efforts to get rid of mail-in voting and “following these court cases,” can happen later, after the RNC focuses on raising money and focusing its attention in those three states.