Donald Trump’s campaign pulled its field operation from Virginia, an adviser has confirmed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the move came on Wednesday night. “Two campaign senior sources” told ABC News that the move was carried out to concentrate its resources in other state contests.
On Monday, Trump’s campaign fired its chairman, Corey Stewart, for organizing a demonstration outside the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C.
And on Facebook, Stewart issued “a plea” to Trump’s campaign.
“A plea to the Trump campaign: Don’t pull out of Virginia. Thousands of dedicated volunteers have spent millions of hours knocking on doors, making phone calls and raising money for Mr. Trump over the past 15 months. Virginia is winnable. An aggressive ad campaign–in combination with the efforts of these volunteers–will produce results. Pulling out now would be a betrayal to these volunteers,” he wrote.
The decision to pull out of Virginia is widely seen as a concession to Hillary Clinton, essentially giving her 13 electoral votes.
Stewart, who is the Prince William County Commissioner, told the Journal that he was promised 80 new staff members, but only around one-fourth of that was deployed.
“The RNC has not been very friendly and has been pulling resources out,” he said, according to WSJ. “They’ve been starving the Virginia Trump campaign even though it’s necessary to win the country. If we lose this state, it’s because of the RNC reneging on their promises to adequately fund the state’s ad program and ground operation.”
This means the Trump campaign is now operating in four primary state battlegrounds: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
“It’s fair to say money was allocated,” one Trump campaign source told NBC News. “But now they’re looking to move personnel to a state that some people think is more important.”
And “by giving up now, with 26 days to go, you’re giving the Clinton campaign the opportunity to go spend money somewhere else,” the source told the broadcaster.
