New Jersey Republicans are riding a high in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s gains in the blue-leaning state last November.
Now, they think they have found the key to keep that momentum going as they seek to flip the governor’s mansion this year: A tall, long-haired, cowboy boot-wearing, former “stop the steal” organizer with millions of social media followers.
Scott Presler, the conservative activist who runs Republican voter registration-focused PAC Early Vote Action and has built his brand around promoting Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, is focusing on the Garden State this year after spending much of 2024 in Pennsylvania. In recent weeks, Presler has crossed New Jersey to implement what he calls “the Pennsylvania model”: registering Republicans in oft-overlooked places — like gun ranges, Amish communities and fly fishing conventions — in both red and Democratic-leaning counties, and encouraging them to vote early for Republicans up and down the ballot.
Presler boasts of helping Trump win Pennsylvania in 2024, a pickup that catapulted the president back to the White House. And Presler thinks New Jersey, with his help, will head in the same direction. Part of that plan? Making sure he looks “really cute for the Shore this summer.”
“We're going to be going to the clubs, we're going to be doing beach volleyball,” the 36-year-old said in an interview with POLITICO. “I say this very tongue in cheek, but I want to talk to as many guidos as possible, and I want to get them all registered to vote and out to vote this November.”
For New Jersey Republicans, Presler’s presence is a notable demonstration of buy-in from a prominent figure — especially after national Republicans eschewed the gubernatorial race in 2021, where Republican Jack Ciattarelli lost to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by just over 80,000 votes. It’s a gap Republicans here argue they could have overcome if there was more attention from their allies in Washington. And recent registration gains for Republicans have the party bullish that they have a real opportunity to claim term-limited Murphy’s seat.
It isn’t just Republicans in New Jersey watching, either. The state is one of two holding a gubernatorial election this year, and the results will offer an early indicator of the national mood heading into the midterm elections. Republicans hope a strong showing in New Jersey, built off of the 2024 results where Trump came six points away from winning, can push the state into purple territory.
In the few instances in recent history in which a Republican won statewide in New Jersey, voters have elected mainstream Republicans who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate. But Trump’s unexpectedly strong showing last year could indicate a shift among voters backing a more conservative agenda. The two leading candidates for the GOP nomination this year — Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea — have sought to emulate Trump and his policies.
“The way that I look at it is, New Jersey has been voting blue for so long, and the definition of insanity is you're repeating the same thing over and over, and you're not having success,” Presler, who does not endorse in the primary, said. “So if there was ever a year to try something new, especially after our big win in 2024, I think this is it. … New Jersey: What have you got to lose? Try something new.”
New Jersey Republicans’ success this year could help prove that theory — and could lay the groundwork for such efforts in other traditionally blue-leaning states where Republicans are looking to make gains. Presler has indicated that he wants to work on Republican voter registration in states like California and New York next year.
‘A load of excitement’
Presler spending so much time in New Jersey “signals to a lot of people that we’re taking 2025 very seriously,” said Hunterdon County Republican Committee Chair Gabe Plumer.
And while Presler’s voter registrations tactics could help Republicans close the gap that Democrats have held in the state, it’s his persona that they see as just as much of a value add to build off Republicans’ enthusiasm from last year.
Presler, whom New Jersey Republican Party Executive Director Kennith Gonzalez described as “a load of excitement” and “such a positive person,” knows how to draw a crowd — both in person and online. Ahead of his voter registration training on a Saturday morning in late February at a VFW hall in Union County, a crowd of attendees lined up for a chance to meet him and take selfies. The same went for after his talk, when he stuck around well after it wrapped to make sure everyone got the chance to speak with him.
During his presentation, which drew more than 200 people, Presler cracked jokes as he went through how to fill out a voter registration form, like how if he met former President Joe Biden, he thinks "he would go in and sniff my hair."
Republican county chairs who have had him visit in recent weeks describe him as a “celebrity” and a “phenom” who has the “room in his hand.” And they said that his presence has brought in crowds they have not seen at this point in past election years, including new people who otherwise have not previously engaged in Republican county events.
“His strength is bringing people to the table who we haven’t met before,” Gonzalez said.
Presler, who said he has so far visited 10 of the 21 counties in the state, said he has helped register thousands of Republicans in New Jersey, including older Democrats who have switched to Republican in part from hearing his talk, as well as younger people.
With months to go until the primary, it’s still too early to see exactly what impact Presler will have on Republicans’ turnout in the closed June primary, where only registered members of the party may cast a ballot. But Republicans are emboldened by their registration gains — and Democrats’ decline — even before Presler came in. As of March 1, Democrats had around 834,000 more registered voters compared to Republicans. At the same point in 2021, Democrats had an advantage greater than 1 million. And since the beginning of the year, Democratic registrations dropped by around 90,000 while Republicans went down by 30,000, due in part to voter roll cleanup. With more than 2 million unaffiliated voters in the state, Republicans are hopeful they can overcome that Democratic advantage.
On X, Presler has a following of more than 2 million, where he posts reminders on upcoming elections and updates about voter registrations. Presler has caught the attention of some of the most powerful people in the Republican Party. Elon Musk, who last year donated $1 million to Presler’s PAC, engages with his posts. And Presler was recently invited to the White House, where he met with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. He’s also a frequent guest on podcasts hosted by those in Trump’s orbit.
Presler has been engaged in conservative political efforts across the country for years, including being involved with “Gays for Trump,” organizing anti-Sharia marches in 2017, leading “stop the steal” rallies post-2020 election and attending a rally on the grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Last year, he was considered for a role in the Republican National Committee for its "legal ballot-harvesting" program, though he was ultimately passed over for the job. Like many of Trump’s allies, Presler has long amplified the president’s false claims that he won the 2020 election — comments that have garnered criticism from national Democrats.
He prefers not to describe himself as an “influencer,” but acknowledged the reach he has. At the Union County event, Presler implored attendees to “help me use my platform” if they “have something election integrity related” or “see the Democrats doing something they shouldn’t be doing” so he can share it on his social media.
“If there's a Democrat Governor Murphy spy in here, I want to make something exceptionally, exceptionally clear,” Presler said to the crowd. “If you cheat … you will be caught and you will be prosecuted.”
That's the kind of rhetoric that has been used in recent elections to motivate the GOP base — especially those who still believe falsely that the 2020 election was stolen. It could also turn off some unaffiliated voters or former Democrats who would be critical to electing a Republican governor. But New Jersey Republicans aren’t worried about that, saying that Presler’s message is primarily about voter registration.
“Honestly for me, that’s done and old and move on,” said Union County GOP Chair Carlos Santos. “It’s time to make everybody feel that their vote actually counts and get them out to vote. … When I go to the food store and I buy two bags of food and it’s $300, what’s more important — to get out and vote and try to make a difference or change, or that they claim there was fraud at one time?”
Presler said he will “continue to pummel” these “election integrity” efforts, but it’s “bread and butter” issues — like crime, property taxes and immigration — that resonate with voters. He said he thinks independent voters are also being swayed toward Republicans by offshore wind efforts, which the Trump administration has sought to halt.
“The people of New Jersey truly feel forgotten,” he said. “These people truly feel that they are getting the short end of the stick: their businesses, they are overtaxed, their homes, they are overtaxed. They feel the economic burden.”
Rare national buy-in
Santos, whose Union County traditionally leans Democratic, said that after the November election, he asked Presler to come to the state to help register more Republicans. Presler had visited the state a couple of times previously, and Santos said he caught his attention because his efforts seemed “genuine,” and he was “not looking to get paid from it.”
New Jersey Republicans have largely welcomed Presler, arguing that they can take all the help they can get in this year’s high-stakes gubernatorial election. Cape May GOP Chair Mike Donohue — who is looking forward to working with Presler once the busy season starts on the Shore — said he heard some hesitancy from fellow Republicans initially due to some feelings of territorialism. But that went away, especially after Presler took the time to meet with local Republicans prior to appearing at events.
Plumer, the Hunterdon chair, said that Presler did it “the right way” to engage county chairs “in a partnership,” rather than some national groups that come in “and do their own thing.”
Still, some local Republicans would prefer to do things their own way. Jose Arango, the GOP chair in overwhelmingly Democratic Hudson County, said that Presler is bringing enthusiasm, but he has seen impressive registrations without his help.
“He’s doing a good thing — I just don’t see the need in Hudson County,” said Arango. “I give him a lot of credit, but we’re successful in Hudson. I never like to change success.”
Presler said he’s “not here to step on people's toes” or “to own New Jersey,” and that he will “go where the help is wanted.”
Some Republicans are already making changes as a result of Presler’s initiative. Sean Earlen, the chair of the Burlington County GOP, said he has a subcommittee working to enact the “Presler plan,” whose main focus now is to register Republican voters at gun shops and ranges.
“When you’re a county party and doing this every year, your message gets stale,” Earlen said. “Some of the stuff he preaches we’ve done before, but he draws in new people.”
Presler’s efforts have caught the attention of some Democrats, but they aren’t too worried at this point.
“I think to not be paying attention and monitoring it would be a mistake, but I’m not necessarily shaking in my boots,” said Dyese Davis, chair of the Democratic Party in Monmouth County, where Presler recently visited.
And Republicans have some other reassuring signs heading into the peak of primary season. Beyond Presler, they’re getting some noteworthy attention from the national party: Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley participated in events in the state last month, and RNC co-chair K.C. Crosbie spoke at the Union County Lincoln Day Dinner (along with Presler).
Presler is spending time in Wisconsin ahead of this week's Supreme Court election, and continues his efforts in Pennsylvania. He is planning to continue engaging in New Jersey after Wisconsin’s election, including smaller rallies to encourage Republicans to vote early ahead of the June primary.
“The biggest surprise has been how many people in a quote-unquote ‘blue state’ are already getting active in February and March,” Presler said. “This in my opinion is unprecedented — the amount of energy that we've seen this early in New Jersey.”
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