RNC Members Acknowledge Their Fundraising Is ‘in the Toilet’
DONOR EXHAUSTION
The Republican National Committee is having some serious money problems.
Zachary Petrizzo
Politics Reporter
Roger Sollenberger
Senior Political Reporter
Published Aug. 31, 2023 4:35AM EDT
Pay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding.
When Republican National Committee members met in Milwaukee last week, many of them had one persistent question on their minds: Why has fundraising slumped?
At the start of the 2022 midterm cycle, the RNC had twice as much cash on hand as the Democratic National Committee—$80.5 million versus $38.8 million. Now, the RNC has less than half as much on hand as the DNC—$11.8 million to the DNC’s $25.4 million.
The reversal comes after longtime RNC chair Ronna McDaniel fought off a contentious challenge to her leadership earlier this year, a victory secured partly through her pledge to prioritize the party’s fundraising efforts.
But the current state of affairs has left many RNC members concerned about the group’s financial status just as the 2024 cycle begins to pick up steam—with some of them pining for the not-so-distant past.
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“They were raising record dollars when Donald Trump was president,” one RNC committeeman said, handing the credit for that accomplishment to Trump, not McDaniel.
While Trump is still the top Republican cash draw, that doesn’t do the RNC itself as much good as it once did. He’s no longer the incumbent, and with a multitude of Republican primary challengers the RNC can’t play favorites or hitch its wagon to his star. Beyond that, the Trump campaign has long taken issue with anyone who uses Trump to make a buck—the RNC included.
But without the ability to dangle Trump in front of donors, the RNC’s fundraising has slowed dramatically. (At this same point in 2019—a comparable year, before the last general election—the RNC had four times as much in the bank, $46.6 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.) And members have taken note.
“The fundraising has gone in the toilet,” this RNC member said. “They’re not raising money.”
While fundraising might not be abysmal—$50.8 million raised this year, compared to the DNC’s $59.5 million—the bottom line is far from ideal. And those lackluster totals appear to reflect McDaniel’s previous budgetary decisions, which have left the party still nursing a fiscal hangover from a withering 2022 cycle that hit the GOP harder than the Democrats.
“They are way behind,” the previously mentioned RNC member said. “They don’t have money in the bank.”
An RNC spokesperson didn’t dispute that the party was behind the eight-ball, and in fact provided a statement that highlighted the costs of what promises to be an expensive year ahead.
“The RNC is investing in party infrastructure and our data-driven ground game that will bolster the eventual nominee to victory come next Fall,” spokesperson Emma Vaughn said.
“Under Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s leadership, the RNC is on pace to be in a stronger position financially going into 2024, then the last time we were campaigning to take back the White House,” Vaughn continued, referring to Trump’s first stab at the presidency in 2016. She added that much of the “supposed criticism” from RNC sources in this article echoes “the same gossip and innuendo” from McDaniel’s re-election battle in January—a battle that her critics lost handily.
