How Steve Bannon convinced Trump supporters to take over the GOP 'precinct by precinct'

Steve Bannon.
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

An army of conspiracy-minded Trump supporters are moving to influence and run the Republican Party at a local level, galvanized — at least initially — by none other than former Trump adviser and far-right nationalist Stephen Bannon, ProPublica reports.

In February 2021, Bannon told his podcast listeners of the "precinct strategy," in which Trump voters could take control of the GOP by flooding "into the lowest rung of the party structure: the precincts," ProPublica writes. Precinct officers are typically in charge of routine, administrative tasks, but collectively, "can influence how elections are run." In some states, they even have a say in the selection of poll workers and election board members.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.