Conservatives could hit 500k members as leadership campaigns scramble for supporters
Global News
Three sources told Global News that party is likely on pace to smash membership records ahead of Sept. 10 vote for the Conservatives’ third leader in five years.
The Conservative party is on pace to hit as many as half a million members as leadership candidates furiously scramble to sign up supporters, three sources tell Global News.
That number would almost double the roughly 269,000 eligible voters in the party’s 2020 leadership contest, which saw Erin O’Toole narrowly upset Peter MacKay to lead the party.
It is “far too early to speculate on the total number of memberships” expected to be sold during the leadership contest, party president Rob Batherson said in a statement to Global News. But Batherson said there is “a lot of interest” in joining the party.
“The Conservative Party of Canada appreciates the work of the leadership candidates and their campaigns in signing up members and are extremely grateful for the tireless efforts of our staff in processing and verifying the countless number of new memberships that arrive every day,” Batherson said.
One party source cautioned that, while the party is seeing considerable growth in its membership rolls during the latest leadership contest, the final number of eligible voters “could be more, could be less” than 500,000.
That’s because each leadership campaign will have the ability to scour the membership lists and challenge their rivals’ sign-ups. Campaigns have until June 3 to sign up their prospective supporters, and any last-minute surges or challenges could affect the final number.
While such a jump in membership numbers is good for both party coffers and their voter identification efforts, two sources said it will present logistical challenges for the party running the leadership contest.
The sources said the task of validating and getting mail-in ballots out to hundreds of thousands of new supporters will be significant for the party’s HQ, which has seen some high-profile staffing exits after Erin O’Toole’s ouster.