by David Chang, Chairman, Hawaii Republican Party

This past week I was in our nation's capital for our Republican National Committee Winter Meeting. We received a thorough update on everything the RNC is doing to grow our party and win more elections. It has been about ten months since the release of the Growth and Opportunity Project's report and its 219 recommendations.

Some of these recommendations were for the national party, some for the state party, some for candidates and other groups. One of the biggest things was how we needed to operate with campaign mechanics - our ground game, voter engagement, and with data and technology.

Ground Game

— Instead of the RNC practicing five-month "parachute campaigns" we have fundamentally reshaped the ground game to be community-based and bottom-up, laying the foundation for a year-round ground game.

— 78% of the political staff for the party is outside of DC, with state directors, field staff, data directors, minority engagement directors, and field staff in every targeted state. Hawaii is historically not a targeted state, but we have also benefited from national support on our ground game.

—There are 8,000 new precinct leaders and tens of thousands of precinct team members to communicate with voters neighborhood-by-neighborhood.

Voter Engagement

—The RNC has hired staff and developed programs for targeted voter engagement with Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, women, young voters, and faith-based voters. 

—We need to develop these relationships that have been neglected and counter what the Democrats are saying.

Data, Digital, Technology

—The RNC has invested millions of dollars in technology to help the entire party top-down. The goal is to improve our data and analytics to reach new voters and grow the party. The email file has grown by 2.7 million people!

—We have our first ever Chief Technology Officer and his team from Facebook, Google, Linked-In and other top technology companies. We have a RNC satellite office in Silicon Valley to recruit the best talent. Andy Barkett, our CTO and his team will soon be in Hawaii to train and teach us on how to use the new system!

—The technology investment is focused on three tracks

     1. Working with all states to roll out the first batch of software tools

     2. Developing brand new software that will make data use more efficient

     3. Acquiring new data from the work of our new data directors and engagement staff

All of this will help our state party win elections. I am excited for what the future holds for Hawaii. It will take a lot of hard work for our state party, our candidates, our volunteers, and our members. I look forward to working to creating a balanced two-party system in Hawaii, and making Hawaii a better place to live!

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