A leading evangelical advocacy group is set to increase its political expenditures substantially for the 2024 election, aiming to facilitate Donald Trump’s return to the presidency.
Faith & Freedom, an organization with conservative inclinations, plans to allocate $62 million towards engaging evangelical voters through registration drives and turnout efforts, in addition to implementing texting, calling, and door-to-door campaigns according to a report from Politico.
This represents a $10 million uptick from its spending in the previous election cycle. Among various initiatives, the group anticipates distributing 30 million pieces of literature across 125,000 churches, with a significant focus on key battleground states.
Faith & Freedom Coalition is a conservative-leaning organization that focuses on mobilizing faith-based voters to participate in the political process. Established by Ralph Reed in 2009, the organization aims to influence public policy by advocating for conservative values and policies.
Reed, a veteran Republican strategist and ally of Trump who leads the organization, explained, “In terms of home visits and voters reached at the door, to my knowledge it’s the largest effort on the right outside of the Republican National Committee ever,” regarding the scale of their direct voter outreach program.
It’s key issues often include pro-life stances, support for traditional marriage, religious freedom, lower taxes, education reform, and limited government. The Coalition works to educate and mobilize people of faith and like-minded individuals to be active in civic and political affairs, promoting policies that reflect conservative and Judeo-Christian values.
They engage in various activities such as voter registration drives, voter education efforts, and grassroots lobbying to impact legislation and elections across the country.
Politco reported:
The former president is confronting a considerable financial disadvantage heading into the general election with President Joe Biden. He ended January with $30 million in the bank, only a little over half as much as Biden. The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has just $8 million on hand, about one-third as much as its Democratic counterpart. Beyond that, conservative outside groups are up against a big constellation of liberal organizations that are flush with anti-Trump cash.
In addition to Faith & Freedom, two pro-Trump super PACs are expected to spend tens of millions of dollars in support of the former president. And while the conservative Club for Growth, which has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump over the years, has yet to signal if it will invest on his behalf, Trump last week attended a club retreat in Palm Beach, Fla., and he recently dined with the organization’s president, David McIntosh.
The move by Republican-allied groups and donors to align with Trump comes as Trump — ever cognizant of who is financially supporting his candidacy — has emerged as the party’s presumptive nominee.
Reed continued, “In this business you’re paid to worry, and we certainly have seen in recent cycles — particularly in the statewide races and especially the Senate races — we’ve seen the spending gap become overwhelming, serious and debilitating.”
“He was so pro-life that it was astonishing. And as a result of that, he’s going to get more running room from the pro-life grassroots than a typical candidate might get or that he would have gotten in ’16,” he went on, “In ’16 I think there was a lack of trust, and now there is total trust.”
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