Hillary Clinton’s campaign, seeing vulnerabilities for Donald Trump in Arizona and Georgia, says it plans to expand their political and organizing operations in the two states in the coming weeks, according to Democrats with knowledge of the plans.
The potential Democratic investment in Georgia and Arizona is less about a sure-fire belief that Clinton will win them, but rather to expand the battleground map and make Trump fights hard for those two red states. Though that’s all hypothetical, as an outside group that takes its cues from the Clinton campaign says it has no plans currently to play in Arizona and Georgia.
Still the Clinton campaign has incentive to talk up efforts in those states. If the Trump campaign is forced to concentrate on Georgia and Arizona, it consumes time and money he could be devoting elsewhere.
“We can’t take our focus off the places that will actually get us to 270 electoral votes,” a Clinton adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. “If he’s fighting for Arizona and Georgia, he has a big problem.”
A Clinton adviser says this exploratory effort is designed to “force Trump to fight for Arizona and Georgia.”
Top officials in Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters held calls with Democratic Party officials in Arizona and Georgia on Monday to discuss a six-figure investment in those two states, pledging that the money will not only help Clinton and her presidential campaign, but also the two Senate campaigns that are currently being run against incumbent Republicans.
The idea inside Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters: If Clinton is within striking distance in Arizona and Georgia, two state that haven’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since the ’90s, Trump has a narrow path to 270 electoral votes.
That said, Democrats said Tuesday that there is growing confidence that Clinton could win in Arizona and Georgia, especially if the local parties can turn out minority voters and white women.
In Arizona, Democrats believe they need to boost Latino turnout, in particular, to win in November. And in Georgia, Democrats think high turnout among African-Americans in the Atlanta area could lead to Democrats winning the state for the first time since 1992.
While Clinton world is making this early foray into the two states, her super PACs have yet to move.
A spokesman for Priorities USA says they currently have no ad buys in either state and “no plans to so spend in either state.”
“We continue to make decisions about how to best allocate resources week to week and are monitoring both states,” said Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the super PAC.