Fresh off declaring “victory” over Virginia’s roughly $65 million redistricting ballot measure — which Republicans criticized as a “dark money”-backed gerrymander — the Republican National Committee is looking to capitalize on that momentum.
Describing the RNC as “disciplined and ruthless,” Chairman Joe Gruters revealed that the committee launched a multimillion-dollar election integrity push ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The effort involves hiring directors in 17 states to recruit poll workers, poll watchers and election observers, while coordinating legal and Election Day oversight across key battlegrounds, Fox News Digital has learned.
The directors will be the legal “eyes and ears on every vote cast and counted” in every battleground these midterms, according to officials. It is all coming from the top down, echoing President Donald Trump’s longstanding argument that the people counting votes are as important as those casting them.
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“President Trump made it clear in 2024: secure our elections — and we haven’t let up since,” Gruters said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We’re building a ground game across the country with poll workers, poll watchers and lawyers to protect every legal ballot.”
“This is a permanent, nationwide effort backed by legal muscle and disciplined operations. The RNC is all-in, year-round, to safeguard election integrity and ensure only legal votes count,” he added.
The RNC is aiming to defy history in maintaining the president’s party majority in the House and Senate through a midterm election.
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Rather than relying on high-profile national election attorneys, the RNC is turning to local legal experts in key states — a strategy officials say was key to its legal approach in Virginia, where a multimillion-dollar ballot measure ultimately failed.
The plan revolves around smart data and even artificial intelligence to feed actual, actionable intelligence in the midterm battlegrounds. And the spending and swath of the operation will expand as the conditions on the ground warrant, according to officials.
The RNC hires are part of an initial seven-figure investment and build on the 2024 election integrity operation, which officials said recruited more than 230,000 volunteers in 18 target states for poll watching, poll work and legal support, along with more than 6,000 volunteer attorneys both remotely and on the ground.
The initial “seven-figure” spend remains a “moving target,” officials added, with the expectation that the investment will climb into the tens of millions nationwide.
Democrats spent comparable amounts in Virginia alone, according to critics of that effort. Republicans hope saving tens of millions will have a domino effect on the midterm battlegrounds.
Supporters argue that approach reflects fiscal responsibility and a broader strategic shift — something that seemingly left Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias publicly frustrated.
“We’ve got the Republican National Committee waging litigation in courtrooms around the country,” Elias lamented to MS NOW last month.
RNC officials pushed back, saying Elias’ “record is terrible” against them, as they outlined their next battle plan Monday.
The RNC said it will avoid hiring what it views as expensive national election attorneys who would be inexperienced and less informed on local law. The officials behind the multimillion-dollar campaign said hires “will not be names you recognize,” but they are the experts in those states and districts.
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Officials compared the strategy to long-term conservative legal efforts that ultimately led to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Rather than lawlessly condemning SCOTUS, Dems should listen to Ari Fleischer,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, wrote Monday night on X as Democrats were pushing what Republicans described as a likely unsuccessful U.S. Supreme Court appeal for the Virginia high court ruling.
“For decades, Republicans lived with Supreme Court rulings they didn’t like. [With] Roe v. Wade, [they] didn’t say ‘we need to rig the Supreme Court.’ They worked within the system to change the way things worked.”
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Despite the recent gains in the courts on redistricting and criticism oscillating back to the left, the RNC has also faced criticism, particularly with regard to those upset that Democrats outspent Republicans by nearly a 3-to-1 margin on the ultimately doomed Virginia ballot measure.
RNC officials said they are unfazed by criticism, telling Fox News Digital the election integrity effort is akin to a football team’s offensive line — doing all the grunt work and none of the press.
Republicans have faced criticism for being judicious with what is estimated to be up to an $800 million war chest for the midterms, but RNC officials are signaling confidence in their approach.
“Just watch us” get results, the officials said.
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Defying history in helping Trump keep its congressional majority will “not be cheap” or easy, they admit. Just ask Democrats now upset in Virginia, they added.
RNC officials argued spending just a fraction and getting a narrow margin at the ballot box ultimately gave the “Virginia Supreme Court some cover” to rule the way it did.
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The RNC said it led those legal challenges largely behind the scenes, with legal experts typically not seen on TV, which officials argue demonstrates how effective their quiet midterm legal ground game will be.
While there might be critics of how the RNC is spending on election integrity, the RNC officials stressed they stick to being quietly strategic and targeted in former Raiders head coach Al Davis’ “just win, baby” fashion.
The RNC’s initial field investment includes states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, with officials saying the operation will cover entire states rather than only targeted congressional districts as the party builds a long-term infrastructure aimed at both the midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
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The RNC said the new state directors will serve as the election integrity program’s “eyes and ears” on the ground, overseeing poll worker and poll watcher recruitment, coordinating with attorneys and supporting Election Day operations in battleground states.
That is the mission the RNC has accepted from the president.
Midterm elections historically have lower participation rates than presidential election years, so having legal “eyes and ears on every vote cast and counted” through this election integrity unit will take up the bulk of the RNC spending up to “eight figures,” according to officials.
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The move comes as Trump vowed Sunday to expand the GOP’s election integrity operation, writing on Truth Social that Republicans would again deploy an “Election Integrity Army” in 2026, but that it would be “much bigger and stronger.”
Trump also criticized a Democrat-led election integrity group involving former Attorney General Eric Holder and Elias, accusing Democrats of trying to “suppress Republican voters” and “interfere in our Elections.”
“The Democrats are totally unhinged, and we will not allow them to threaten the integrity of our Elections,” Trump wrote.
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“During my Historic Election in 2024, when I won every single Swing State, and decisively won both the Electoral and Popular votes by wide margins, the Republicans had an Election Integrity Army in every single State to preserve the sanctity of each legal vote,” he wrote. “We will be doing the same again in 2026, but it will be much bigger and stronger. All Americans should have their voices be heard by casting a vote. Be assured this Election will be fair!”
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Gruters said Sunday the RNC had deployed its first wave of field staff to 17 battleground states to turn out voters he says are needed to win the midterms.
“We’re building the ground game to win, protect our majorities in the House and Senate, and give President Trump a full four years,” Gruters wrote.
In a separate post, Gruters said the RNC is “aggressively fundraising and deploying staff to battleground states across the country to get out the vote and secure our elections,” adding the committee is being “disciplined and ruthless” to make its resources count and stop Democrats from retaking Congress in November.
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The RNC kept its election integrity program intact after the 2024 election and is now expanding poll worker recruitment in 17 target states while also growing operations in non-target states. The committee said it is currently involved in more than 130 active election integrity cases across 30 states.
That included involvement in legal challenges related to the Virginia Supreme Court, which struck down a voter-approved redistricting measure that Republicans had criticized as a gerrymander, in a decision delivered Friday.
“Hey @JamesBlairUSA where are all the people attacking us for not spending enough in Virginia?” Trump’s 2024 campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita wrote Friday on X, directing his slam dunk on critics to the White House deputy chief of staff who is transitioning to leading the midterm operation.
“Oh yea …they are laughing at Dems for wasting $60 million #wannabees,” he wrote.