Elon Musk’s America PAC has Republican operatives more than a little concerned about Donald Trump’s ground game.
Nine Republican operatives and canvassers seemed alarmed about issues with the super PAC, which has reportedly collected a plethora of faked canvassing data, NBC News reported Friday.
As the PAC’s phony canvassing numbers were revealed, an operative close to the effort told NBC that “all hell has broken loose” inside the America PAC.
The PAC has reportedly received a large quantity of suspicious data from its canvassers, following reports that some had learned how to spoof their location to create the impression that they’d visited voters’ homes.
Earlier this month, data leaks revealed that roughly 24 percent of door-knocks in Arizona and 25 percent of door-knocks in Nevada in a single week had been flagged as “unusual,” an internal metric used to indicate fake door-knocks. America PAC has spent more than $54 million on its vendor in those states, Blitz Canvassing, which is also organizing efforts in Michigan and North Carolina. Blitz Canvassing is one of four vendors employed by the PAC.
The PAC has pushed back on reports that fake canvassing was impeding Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.
America PAC has also reportedly engaged in dubious treatment of its canvassers. Two canvassers anonymously told NBC News they were made to knock on doors outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, as Hurricane Helene rolled in on September 27. One of them said that their direct manager told them to go door to door, despite leadership instructing them to make calls instead.
"If I go into the troubles that we went through just getting into the field, working, I’m talking about soggy literature, right?” the canvasser told NBC News. “Ponchos on ponchos.”
“It was very bad,” they added.
The second canvasser said that many canvassers quit after that experience.
In Michigan, some canvassers funded by America PAC were reportedly given unrealistically high expectations, under extremely poor working conditions. They claimed that they were threatened financially if they performed poorly. Canvassers said that they’d been misled by the PAC and a video showed that they’d been carted around in the back of a U-Haul, instead of the rental cars they were promised. One canvasser even said they were surprised to learn that they were canvassing on behalf of Trump.
Trump’s allies have practically begged the former president to ditch Musk, and his malfunctioning canvassing efforts, as conservative activists and leaders in battleground states reported that they’ve seen little return from the America PAC’s efforts.
I canvassed for the state democrat party under a consulting firm. I'd estimate we faked at least 25% of our door knocks. It was normally work half the day, then take an hour lunch (on the clock), fake whatever knocks we didn't get to, go get the 2nd packet of canvass addresses, then work another 60-90 minutes more, then fake the rest of our knocks and chill the rest of the day. it was the same whether you worked with a partner or alone.
Damn this makes me feel way better about when I volunteered to canvas for a mayoral election. I only did a single day but I really did try and hit all my assigned locations and hang door knockers.
I canvassed for a Dem pac in 2020 because it paid well. I thought i was grifting them but the fact that I actually at least walked the turfs they gave me made me one of the best canvassers on the team. The guy I worked with most of the time was also one of the best and he was a Republican who voted against the candidate we were canvassing for. One guy was selling drugs as he canvassed and most of the team was highschool aged kids who could barely speak English and clearly did not know or care about what was happening. We took long breaks, spoofed doors, and spent as little time as possible actually talking to voters and they were thrilled with our work.
There's no way anything they're reporting on here is exclusive to Elon's pac, the Dems are just in denial about how they spend their money.
I hope you were able to do that fake door knocking under less cruel conditions, at least.