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The Republican National Committee is going broke. As of Oct. 30, it had just $9.1 million on hand, compared to the $17.7 million reported by the Democratic National Committee. The most vivid comparison, though, is found by looking at this point in previous election cycles. At the end of 2015, heading into the 2016 cycle, the Republican National Committee had $20 million on hand. In 2019, the committee had about $61 million.
“It’s a revenue problem,” Tennessee RNC member Oscar Brock told The Washington Post. “We’re going through the same efforts we always go through to raise money: the same donor meetings, retreats, digital advertising, direct mail. But the return is much lower this year. If you know the answer, I’d love to know it. The staff has managed to tighten down on expenses to keep the party from going into the red.”
Brock probably knows the “answer” is really a problem: Donald Trump. At least that’s what other GOP operatives who spoke to the Post say. “Some donors aren’t giving to the RNC because they think that will help Trump, which they don’t want to do, these people said, while others have said they prefer to wait until 2024 to give,” the Post article asserted.
Others “have grown frustrated with the party’s leadership,” largely because of Trump. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel still has Trump’s support—for now, anyway. That puts her at odds with all those anti-Trump donors who are looking to spend their money elsewhere. It’s also causing the ongoing GOP civil war to spill over into the RNC, with some members willing to trash McDaniel to the Post. “The RNC’s electoral record since 2017 speaks for itself,” said Virginia RNC member Patti Lyman. “The damage from that chair election goes far beyond the drop in donations. Our base was demoralized.”
Fun times!
It’s not just the RNC. When Republicans ousted fundraising juggernaut Kevin McCarthy from the House speaker’s chair, they saw donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee plummet. The committee raised just over $5 million in October, about half of what it raised in the same period in 2019 ($10 million), and reported $37.3 million in the bank at the end of that month. By comparison, the NRSC had $67.7 million on hand at this point in 2021, and $28.3 million in 2019.
In contrast, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hauled in $8.1 million in October, and has raised a total of $101.3 million this year.
On the Senate side, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s fundraising for his own committee and leadership PAC seems to have all but shut down. The National Republican Senate Committee is closer to par with the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. The NRSC has hauled in $62.6 million this year compared to the DSCC’s $60.8 million haul. But here’s a telling difference: There’s a $3 million gap—in the Democrats’ favor—between the organizations when it comes to individual contributions.
RELATED STORY: House Republican fundraising takes a dive under MAGA Mike’s leadership, god bless him
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