The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) announced today that Governor Jim Gilmore will be the Chairman of its 2016 “Team Virginia” field program. Team Virginia is the Party’s grassroots efforts in partnership with the Republican National Committee, formerly known as the “Victory” program.

Team Virginia isn’t the traditional GOP field effort. We’ve learned that it takes relationships with people voters know and trust to get them out to the polls. Team Virginia will see neighborhood-based, Republican teams talking to their own friends and neighbors in every corner of the Commonwealth. Whether it’s Lee County or Alexandria, Winchester or Virginia Beach, we’re building groups of local volunteers to reach out to their own communities.

Republicans already have a historic number of people on the ground working to win in 2016. Over the coming weeks, those numbers will grow rapidly as we build out regional teams into neighborhood teams.

But Team Virginia isn’t just about identifying, persuading and turning out voters, it is also a communications and social media plan and an aggressive voter registration effort – building the long-term, neighborhood-level infrastructure we need to win in 2016, 2017, and beyond.

“We are very pleased that Gov. Gilmore has agreed to be the Chairman of our field program,” said RPV Chairman John Whitbeck. “Team Virginia is the largest and most aggressive plan in the history of the RPV. We will have hundreds of staffers across the Commonwealth working out of an unprecedented number of field offices.”

“We are also very proud that almost all of the staff we employ will have been hired from Virginia. Nobody knows better how to win in our Commonwealth than the local activists in the various geographic regions around our state. Having a former Governor who has won multiple state-wide races is a big boost to Team Virginia. We really appreciate the Governor’s willingness to serve.”

“This campaign makes me – and all of us – aware of the challenges and opportunities that are ahead for our country,” said Governor Gilmore. “I look forward to working with Chairman Whitbeck and the entire GOP team to defeat Hilliary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and to delivering the vote for our Republican ticket in November.”

Team Virginia staffers were already on the ground in the 2015 elections and were a big part of the RPV’s success in help hold the Republican majorities in the State Senate and House of Delegates.