Breaking New Ground: Field Office Strategies in the 2024 Presidential Election

In 2020, Joe Biden won the election without opening field offices, raising questions about the future of in-person organizing. We use original data on the 2024 election to show that field offices, which coordinate voter outreach and mobilization activities, returned—albeit in a more limited capacity than in previous contests. Both the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns dramatically reduced their investments in physical field offices relative to 2008, 2012, and 2016, instead opting for a campaign strategy more heavily reliant on mass media and digital engagement. Analyses of the determinants of field office placement reveal notable departures from prior cycles. As opposed to Obama and Clinton, Harris was not likely to place offices in battleground states. The partisan trend of a county, as measured by the Republican normal vote variable, did not predict field office placement in 2024, a distinction from years past. Harris prioritized core Democratic counties while Trump focused more on swing counties, a trend that is consistent with past research. Finally, Trump was more likely to establish offices in swing counties where Harris had a presence, while Harris avoided placing offices in counties where Trump had already invested. We conclude by discussing the implications of these decisions for the future of the field.