# America PAC Canvassing Scandal In the final week of the 2024 campaign, WIRED reported how [[America PAC]]'s door-knocking operation worked on the ground in Michigan. The PAC had taken over the Trump campaign's turnout operation in the swing states, so this was central to the campaign's strategy. America PAC's subcontractor [[Blitz Canvassing]] had brought out-of-state workers to Michigan without, according to the workers, telling them they would be campaigning for [[Donald Trump]]. It moved them in rental trucks with no seats, and tied their hotel rooms to a quota of 1,000 doors a week. Days after the story ran, one crew, made up entirely of Black canvassers, was fired en masse with little explanation beyond a complaint that someone had talked to the press. Many were still owed pay, and some were left stranded in Michigan. ## The operation Musk put roughly $250 million into America PAC in 2024, and the PAC's distinguishing feature was field work rather than advertising. The ground game was farmed out to contractors by state: | Contractor | States | |---|---| | [[Blitz Canvassing]] | Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada | | Patriot Grassroots LLC | Georgia, Pennsylvania | | The Synapse Group | Wisconsin | | September Group | Arizona and Nevada, until its contracts were cancelled in September 2024 | Blitz alone received more than **$9 million** from America PAC. ## What the Michigan canvassers described (WIRED, October 31, 2024) - **They were recruited without knowing the client.** Workers told WIRED they did not know they would be canvassing for Trump until after they arrived and signed nondisclosure agreements. "I knew nothing of the job … other than going door to door and asking voters who are they voting for." - **They were driven in a U-Haul.** Promised rental cars, crews were moved around in a moving truck with no rear seats or seatbelts. - **Housing depended on the quota.** Pay was about $1.50 a door, rising to $2 for canvassers who hit 1,000 doors a week, a target Jalopnik called "all but impossible." They say they were told the company would stop paying for their hotels if they fell short. - **They were tracked and timed.** GPS tracking on personal phones during work hours, and an expectation of about 15 seconds per door. - **The app flagged fake knocks.** The canvassing app, Campaign Sidekick, flagged door knocks as potentially fake. Separately, the Guardian reported data irregularities in Nevada and Arizona, with up to 25% of recorded door interactions flagged as possibly fraudulent. America PAC was paying for door knocks, and its own software doubted many of them. Michigan election lawyer Mark Brewer: "These folks didn't even know who they were canvassing for … significantly mistreated mercenaries. There might be labor law violations." Michigan's Secretary of State's office ([[Jocelyn Benson]]) was already investigating America PAC's voter-data collection. ## The firing (WIRED, November 3, 2024) A group of about a dozen canvassers, **all Black and recruited from out of state**, was fired together after the first story ran, "with little explanation beyond a complaint that someone had spoken with the press." Tyra Muldrow, a 20-year-old Black woman from Florida: "I have this eerie feeling that I need to get the hell up out of there." Many, including Muldrow, were still owed money. She found her own way home. Others were still stranded in Michigan when WIRED published, two days before the election. Neither Musk nor America PAC commented to WIRED. ## Aftermath Payment disputes followed the election. In April 2025 a Philadelphia-area canvasser sued Musk, America PAC and Group America LLC for unpaid referral fees, estimating the class claim at more than $5 million, and a voters' class action followed in May. America PAC says it has "paid tens of millions of dollars to canvassers" and withholds payment where it suspects fraud. See [[America PAC $1 Million Petition Sweepstakes]]. ## Why it matters **Privatized turnout has no accountability.** A party's field program answers to the party's own staff, volunteers and reputation. America PAC's answered to one donor and a chain of subcontractors paid per door. That structure produced both the labor abuse and the fake-knock problem: pay people per door, cut them loose when they complain, and neither the voters nor the campaign can know what was actually done. **Who was used, and who was discarded.** The crew that was fired and stranded was entirely Black, and the workers say they had been recruited without being told the job was a Trump turnout operation. **It is the 2026 model.** America PAC's midterm plan is the same door-knocking program at nine-figure scale (see [[America PAC]]). ## See Also - [[America PAC Timeline]] - [[America PAC]] · [[Blitz Canvassing]] · [[Elon Musk]] - [[America PAC $1 Million Petition Sweepstakes]] · [[2024 Presidential Election]] - [[Musk Companies Labor Litigation]] — the same employer pattern inside Musk's companies