HUNTLEY — The Republican National Committee is going local this Saturday in its National Day of Action.
In Montana, the National Day of Action translates to at least 100 volunteers going door to door in a grassroots effort to reach as many potential voters as possible as the November general election draws closer.
On Wednesday, Miki Carver, Montana communications director for the Republican National Committee, told the Yellowstone County News that Saturday’s effort is part of the first use in Montana of the Republican Party’s extensive voter database.
The party plans to use its Republican Leadership Initiative (RIL) to “equip the next generation of grassroots leaders.” Carver called RIL the national committee’s “flagship program” and said it has already yielded results.
“Across the state, we see a lot of enthusiasm for conservative leaders,” Carver said, “especially for Matt Rosendale and Greg Gianforte.”
The national committee, she said, has built a massive database detailing information about potential voters so that when volunteers knock on doors, they know who lives in the home, how many registered voters live there, and how they voted in the past.
“If you are a registered voter and you have voted it is in our database,” she said.
Using information like this is how “national action turns into local actions,” she said, adding it’s “why we won in 2016” and why President Donald Trump carried Montana.
On Saturday, the grassroots efforts will “spread our message across the entire state,” she said. She said 400 “fellows” have been trained. Of the 100 volunteers deployed on Saturday, she couldn’t say how many would be working in Yellowstone County.
In the race for U.S. Senate, she said, Republican “numbers show the emphasis we place on this project and the significance of Montana.”
Voters “are tired of Jon Tester,” she said.
But the Republican National Committee’s program includes candidates at every level of government, not just races for U.S. House and Senate, she said. Candidates have been turning up at volunteer training.
Those trained volunteers become the face of the party, she said.
“We’re laser-focused,” she said. “We’re telling people, ‘This is how we’re going to win in November.’”
