RNC stresses need to keep focus on Biden at first GOP debate
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel previews the upcoming GOP presidential primary debate in Milwaukee.
FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee says it's going "all in" ahead of Wednesday's first GOP presidential nomination debate to encourage voters to turn in ballots early.
The recently-launched "Bank Your Vote" campaign seeks to motivate pre-Election Day balloting among Republicans ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The RNC effort aims to educate GOP voters on absentee voting, ballot collection and early in-person voting.
The RNC ad blitz, shared first with Fox News Wednesday, includes a 30-second ad that will appear on the Rumble live stream of the debate, a Fox News-hosted showdown in Milwaukee.
The spot includes RNC chair Ronna McDaniel and other prominent Republicans encouraging GOP voters to cast ballots early next year.
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"When Republicans vote early, we win," McDaniel emphasized in the ad.
The RNC also spotlights that the ad includes a Bank Your Vote contest. "If you pledge to bank your vote at BankYourVote.com on Aug. 23, you will be entered to win a chance to attend a future Republican presidential primary debate," the national party committee notes.
The RNC will also have a Bank Your Vote booth at the Convention Partner Fair in Milwaukee Wednesday. The RNC says people attending the debate, vendors and volunteers stopping by the booth can sign up to pledge to bank their vote.
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The committee also notes there will be absentee request forms for all 56 states and territories, with laws and fact sheets about each state and territory’s absentee rules.
The RNC showcases that it's hosting over 400 debate watch parties in all 50 states, where people attending will be encouraged to sign up online and pledge to bank their vote early.
Re-elected Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel holds a gavel while speaking at the committee's winter meeting in Dana Point, Calif., Jan. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
"To ensure that Biden is a one-term president, that Republicans expand our majority in the House and that we take back the Senate, Republican voters from across the country need to bank their vote ahead of Election Day in 2024. The RNC will be leading the Bank Your Vote charge this cycle, and we’re proud to partner with so many Republican leaders from across the ecosystem to bank and protect Republican votes," McDaniel said in a statement.
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Former President Donald Trump, who appears in the new RNC ad, released a video last month encouraging Republicans to vote early, backing the RNC's effort.
For over 2½ years, Trump has repeatedly spotlighted unproven claims that massive fraud in early and absentee voting led to the 2020 presidential election being stolen.
A voting sign outside City Hall in San Francisco Oct. 28, 2022. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
But since launching his 2024 presidential campaign last November, Trump has appeared to slowly embrace efforts to encourage Republicans to vote early in person or cast an early absentee ballot.
During a recent Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, Trump said he would encourage Republicans to vote early. But he also claimed people make "phony ballots" and charged "a lot of bad things happen to those ballots."
Due in part to Trump's rhetoric, Democrats have enjoyed a sizable early voting advantage the past couple of years over Republicans.
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According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Election Project in November, 33.3% of early votes in the 2022 midterm elections came from registered Republicans in states that report such information. That was up from 30.5% during the 2020 presidential election. Democrats voted early at about the same rate — 40.6% in 2022 and 40.8% in 2020.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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