President Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points in 2020, but the Trump campaign has no plans to give up the state in 2024.

In a state crucial to the Democratic nominee in the 2021 presidential election, Glenn Youngkin ran a campaign that even upset the White House. Worried On the fate of former Governor Terry McAuliffe. While repeatedly speaking out on education and culture issues, Youngkin surprised the nation by running a massive Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign across Virginia.

A Roanoke College poll in late August found Showed Vice President Kamala Harris doesn't have the big lead that Biden had in Virginia in 2020. Instead, she holds a slim 3-point lead, slightly larger than Biden's lead earlier this year.

With talk of the state being a hotbed of contention, the Trump campaign plans to use Youngkin's star power and voter turnout efforts in 2021 to tilt the state toward Republicans, state officials told the Daily Caller. Trump himself said of Youngkin during an August press conference, “He's running the entire campaign in Virginia.”

“As the campaign gets further along and we participate in early voting rallies and get-to-vote events, the governor will not only be making our case, but he will be focusing on all of that. [get-out-the-vote] “We have volunteers working together in different locations across the state,” Jeff Reier, a spokesman for the Trump campaign in Virginia, told the Caller, adding that Youngkin plans to attend at least 12 rallies for Trump's voter turnout efforts in the coming weeks. Trump Force 47.

“It was so great to welcome President Trump to Virginia today. Great crowd and amazing support. It's time to bring power back to the White House.

Let's unite to elect Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States of America. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PzbmIsb4Co

— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) June 29, 2024

Last night was a big night in Hanover!

would you like to join: https://t.co/yoX9qFr9Ry pic.twitter.com/T5Do2TrHOA

— Trump Force 47 Virginia (@TrumpForce47VA) September 5, 2024

Trump Force 47 has been widely promoted as the former president's low-key operation, and while the party outsources some of its get-out-the-vote efforts to grassroots organizations, Trump Force 47 has made a strong presence in several states, including Virginia. (Related: Hunters, Truckers and the Amish: Inside Republicans' 'aggressive' plan to get out the vote in November)

In 2021, the governor's campaign focused on promoting early voting through rallies and messaging. A meeting was held Signs were set up across from the early voting site encouraging attendees to vote. Youngkin's campaign has spent $7.1 million promoting early voting, going door-to-door to help Virginians find their polling place and request a mail-in ballot.

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Rich Anderson told the Caller that Republicans are working with the Trump campaign to replicate the ground-breaking campaign that saw Youngkin win the state in 2021. To that end, the GOP is Anderson told the Caller that there are 15 local elections offices across the state and Youngkin has attended some of the grand openings.

“The Trump 2024 campaign team and [Republican Party of Virginia] “Our goal is to certify 5,000 Trump Force 47 volunteers for voter turnout campaign efforts. With less than 70 days until Election Day, we have certified 75% of our goal and expect to exceed that goal by the time early voting begins on September 20th,” Anderson told the Caller.

“We will have 500 election lawyers stationed at polling places across Virginia, in addition to more than 5,000 GOTV volunteers,” Anderson said, adding that he did not have an estimate for how many homes the party will visit.

The party leader added that in addition to voter turnout efforts, the GOP has a strong election integrity presence across the state. In tandem with the campaign, the Virginia Republican Party plans to deploy 5,000 poll watchers and 500 election lawyers 45 days before Election Day.

“I think Trump Force 47 fits in very well with what the Youngkin campaign has accomplished in the state in 2021,” Reier told the Caller.

An adviser to Youngkin told The Daily Caller that the governor plans to be active on the campaign trail and participate in early voting rallies in the coming weeks. The adviser added that the governor is focused on ensuring that elections are fair, secure, and that Virginians feel comfortable voting. In August, Youngkin issued Executive Orders 31 and 35, which address various issues related to election security. prevention Like Enhancement Testing Virginia's voter rolls and tabulation machines.

“The governor has said this before: We've got to really revitalize the rural areas of the Southwest and South and do better than Republicans typically do in Northern Virginia, and that's going to depend a lot on Richmond and Hampton Roads,” Youngkin told the Caller. Anderson told the Caller the party is targeting Culpeper, Farmville, Fairfax, Stafford, Gloucester, Manassas, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Richmond and Chesterfield.

Virginia voters have 45 days to vote early, either in person or by mail. In 2021, Youngkin received a higher-than-expected number of early votes, which many attributed to his success. In a year without an election, 1.2 million ballots were cast during the early voting period. Youngkin received 46% of the early in-person votes and 24% of the absentee ballots.

“The governor is very committed to keeping the party united, and I think a big factor is the election enforcement order he issued, even though he didn't endorse any primaries this year, to ensure Republicans understand that Virginia has fair and secure elections and voters can be confident that their vote will be counted,” Youngkin told the Caller.

Targeting specific voter groups was a key part of Youngkin's ground-up efforts, said former top Youngkin strategists Jeff Law and Christine Davison. POLITICOThe campaign is aimed at “African-American, Virginian, Asian, Hispanic [and] “Women,” Davison told the outlet.

Thank you to Rita Keener for being Captain of Trump Force!

would you like to join: https://t.co/d39T3HQxYI pic.twitter.com/lFKU6LDt4Q

— Trump Force 47 Virginia (@TrumpForce47VA) August 25, 2024

My husband and I knocked on the door. Trump Force 47VA I am talking to a neighbor, I am a driver and he is a pedestrian. Translator We are small Translator and Translator In the same way. pic.twitter.com/RJKdKdqDXj

— Laurie (@VictoryLady2024) September 2, 2024

Anderson explained that the effort targets different demographics ahead of the election, but stressed that the veterans' vote is crucial in the 2024 election.

“We are very involved with the Veterans Affairs Committee. It's especially important to me because I'm a veteran and served in the Air Force for 30 years,” the state party chairman explained.

“In 2021, we started an organization in Virginia called AVV (American Veterans Vote), and they've turned around and are playing a key role in encouraging veterans to vote here in Virginia, which is great because the majority of veterans are conservative in their thinking and their politics — not all of them, but the majority. So, we were able to leverage that in 2021 for Glenn Youngkin, and it had a huge impact on his ultimate election. He won by two points,” he added.

But the 2024 campaign will go beyond just getting out the vote, with the party focusing on similar tactical messaging it deployed in 2021.

As Davison explained to Politico in 2021, Youngkin chose to focus his campaign message on “cost of living, education and safety.” In contrast, at the national level, Democrats were talking about cutting police budgets, raising taxes and eliminating parental supervision in the classroom, Davison added. McAuliffe placed himself at the center of education issues, the polar opposite of Youngkin.

“We're not going to allow parents to come into the school and actually pull out the books and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe said in 2021. “I don't think parents should be dictating to schools what they should be teaching.”

Youngkin made the most of this message, defeating McAuliffe by focusing on cultural issues like education and abortion.

Trump and Vance have taken opposing positions to Harris and Walz on issues like education and parental rights in the classroom. Anderson told the Caller he expects Youngkin's 2021 message will be well-received in 2024.

“In 2021, Governor Youngkin spoke out in a way that was consistent with Virginia voters on the issue of abortion shortly before birth, and also on the role parents should play in their children's education,” he said.

“Republican leaders and the Virginia Republican Party will continue to remind voters of the radical views that Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz hold on life and education. The Republican Party will continue to represent the views widely held by Virginia voters,” Anderson added.