The next election is more than 15 months away, but the first campaign field office is already open and buzzing with activity in the politically high-priority Third Congressional District of Minnesota.
It wasn't opened by any of the candidates. The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a deep-pocketed national super PAC that has poured millions into Republican races already this year, recently opened a Minnesota outpost at a nondescript strip mall in southwest Bloomington. It's home base for teen volunteers who make calls and knock on doors across the district's suburban neighborhoods, urging voters to send U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen back for a sixth term next year.
Neither Paulsen nor any of the DFLers hoping to unseat him have opened campaign offices in the Third, which encompasses parts of Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Brooklyn Park and other southwestern suburbs. The district was one of just a handful nationwide that supported Democrat Hillary Clinton for president last year but also elected a Republican to Congress, and national Democrats hoping to capitalize on unease with President Trump are expected to go after incumbents like Paulsen next year.
That's where the CLF comes in. Its low-key Minnesota operation, run by a single paid staffer, represents a seismic shift in the campaign landscape. A political action committee — capable of raising and spending limitless amounts of money — is donating not just dollars to a race, but manpower and a physical presence in the district. And it's doing it a year and a half out from Election Day.
"There's no off season anymore," said CLF Executive Director Corry Bliss, whose group has set up a dozen brick-and-mortar campaign offices in at-risk Republican districts around the country.
Flooding the zone
On Tuesday, 10 young men and two young women sat at tables arranged in a square, each with an assigned phone and list of numbers. They dialed until they got someone on the phone, then read through a script: "I'm calling from the Congressional Leadership Fund, and wondering if you would participate in a short survey that will only take one minute."
Few callers seemed interested in participating. Those who did were asked about their support for Trump and about the issue they think is most important to the country.
Chelsea Montgomery, 18, a recent high school graduate from Bloomington, found out about the CLF's phone-banking and door-knocking efforts from her school counselor. She's planning to minor in political science, so she figured it would be a useful addition to her résumé.