MAGA troops look to build on 2024 success, set the stage for GOP dominance in key states

The races for judge of elections in Pennsylvania typically come and go with a whisper, but this year, a Trump-inspired ballot chasing group is trying to put the campaigns front and center.

Pennsylvania Chase has hired 120 full-time people to knock on more than 500,000 doors encouraging low-propensity conservatives to vote in the election. Founder Cliff Maloney is betting the campaign to recruit 1,000 candidates for the often overlooked post — which oversees local elections  — will help keep the 2024 momentum going as the MAGA movement confronts its most significant challenge: no longer having President Trump atop the ballot.

“I don’t think people are understanding how much Trump not being on the ballot will be a challenge for Republicans,” Mr. Maloney told The Washington Times. “So, many people undervalue what Donald Trump was able to do to help with turnout.”

Knowing the off-year races serve as an early referendum on Mr. Trump and a bellwether for the midterm elections next year, the MAGA ground troops are keeping their foot on the gas and focusing on building an enduring organization that can usher in a new era of GOP dominance.

The calendar features special congressional elections to fill the empty seats in Florida and New York, impacting the thin House majority.

The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral race in New York City are shaping up to be the most high-profile battles. The Pennsylvania state Supreme Court also will be up for grabs.

Currently the MAGA shock troops, including Turning Points Action, which led the Trump campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts by targeting conservatives who rarely vote but could be persuaded to do so, are focused on Wisconsin’s April 1 state Supreme Court race that will determine whether liberals maintain a 4-3 majority.

“For Wisconsin residents, the race is pivotal because it will determine whether liberals or conservatives hold a majority on the state Supreme Court at a time when the court is hearing cases about a variety of hot issues including abortion access, election laws, and rights of labor unions,” said Barry C. Burden, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mr. Burden said it also “has become something of a proxy for the conflicts in Washington, especially because Elon Musk has chosen to get involved in the election by supporting the conservative candidate with significant financial contributions.”

In a Democratic fundraising email on Friday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said “right-wing special interests are pouring millions into Wisconsin to try to buy a seat on our Supreme Court.”

“And now, Elon Musk has weighed in — making it clear that the far right is all in on flipping control of the court. We can’t let them win,” she said.

For Republicans, it also is a chance to show they learned a lesson after getting complacent following Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory and living through a series of election setbacks before 2024.

It also is a chance for payback. Republicans lost a 2023 state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that swung the court to the left. The result opened the door for rulings that Republicans opposed regarding state legislative maps, labor rights and elections.

The state’s high court will likely revisit labor rights and elections laws and could be asked to rule on congressional maps and abortion rights.

“The scary part is we have only scratched the surface of what a liberal Supreme Court could do here in Wisconsin,” Brett Galaszewski, the enterprise director of Turning Point Action and vice president of Milwaukee County GOP, said during a recent appearance on the Charlie Kirk Show. “We will not have another shot at winning a conservative [Supreme Court] seat in Wisconsin until 2029.”

Looking to avoid a repeat, Turning Points Action has 50 full-time staff in the Badger State, and has launched a new effort targeting disengaged voters through door-knocking, telephone calls and letters.

The “Commit 100” program assigns volunteers to chase down 100 conservative voters likely to stay on the sidelines in off-cycle elections. Ground troops get free hotel rooms.

Mr. Galaszewski said 57,000 conservatives in Milwaukee County are slated to sit out the April election “unless we go out and chase those voters.”

“This worked like a well-oiled machine in 2024,” Mr. Galaszewski said of their ballot chasing efforts. “It really put the finishing touches on our effort to get President Trump across the finish line in Wisconsin.”

Back in Pennsylvania, Mr. Maloney said the push to field judge of election candidates is just as important when it comes to building out a “permanent infrastructure” that has the power to remake electoral maps. Local judges of elections are the officers in charge of each polling place who enforce rules of conduct.

‘’I’m very confident I’m going to be able to go out and raise the money, get all the activists and candidates that we need, get the funders that understand the power of permanent infrastructure,” Mr. Maloney said. “And the pitch is very simple: If we make Pennsylvania a red wall, it means that Democrats can’t win nationally.”

Later this year, Pennsylvanians also will vote in “yes or no” retention elections for all three statewide appellate courts. Conservatives are especially intent on flipping the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court.

Chris Borick, political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said the effort to mobilize supporters to start with the low-profile judge of elections races is a smart strategy.

“From a strategic perspective, it makes sense for MAGA-related groups to focus on these seats given their beliefs that there is election fraud and that getting MAGA-inspired individuals in these positions is somewhat attainable,” Mr. Borick said. “Engaging in this realm gives MAGA-movement individuals an outlet for their energies.”