It takes thousands of hours and millions of dollars to run a successful presidential campaign. Field offices are typically filled with local staffers and volunteers, boosting support and encouraging voter turnout.
But over the past few weeks, there have been questions about former President Donald Trump's ground game.
Republicans are confident in their strategy. According to a Republican National Committee spokesperson, they have over 300 offices across the battleground states with hundreds of paid staffers and more than 27,000 trained "Trump Force 47 Captains." Their focus is turning out infrequent voters and encouraging voting early.
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has slightly fewer offices in swing states, 238, but with roughly 1,750 staffers working in those locations, they seem to have more paid staff on the ground. Drumming up enthusiasm and volunteer support has typically been a Democratic strength.
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But campaigns are fueled by the top of the ticket. Trump himself has been busy on the trail, holding rallies and campaign events in all the key swing states, a change from when President Joe Biden was leading the Democratic ticket.
"Clearly, they had to do a different strategy with Vice President Harris being the Democratic nominee. And it looks like it took them a little while, but now they've course corrected, and they are on the campaign trail constantly doing what they need to do to win the election," said Brian Darling, a Republican strategist and former counsel for Sen. Rand Paul.
After launching her candidacy with a robust travel schedule, Harris hasn't been as active on the trail recently. But both she and running mate Gov. Tim Walz still have day jobs.
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"At the end of the day, you have Donald Trump, who is simply former something, but not actually currently holding any title, and a senator who is on recess compared to the vice president and a sitting governor, right? So they certainly have more to balance. They're both current executives," said Karen Defilippi, a Democratic strategist
And when the candidate is away and door knocking is quiet, it's campaign ads that both parties rely on to sway supporters with millions of dollars being spent to target voters in those key swing states.
