RNC Running Out Of Money?

No, the RNC isn’t broke but heading into a Presidential election year it’s far from financially healthy. In fact, it hasn’t been this low on operating cash at the end of a yearly reporting period since 2015.

It’s not a secret that Trump has taken control of the RNC including and especially its fundraising. He’s appealing to donors to give directly to him and at least in the case of small donors his constant appeals to send him money have worked. He’s also as we know forced the RNC to  hand him millions to cover his legal fees. They’ve pushed back some but RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel (the Romney family doesn’t want her using the family name anymore) owes her job to Trump so she’ll do what he says. The thing is, big money GOP donors the RNC has always been able to tap for money have kept their checkbooks closed. They believe it’s time for the GOP to move on from Trump. McDaniel/the RNC has asked Trump for access to the list of small donors and his response has been pretty much what you’d expect. “THAT’S MINE! Go raise your own money!”

So, as this article from Newsweek reports the RNC has less than half the cash on hand that the DNC reports it has.

In a filing on Wednesday, the GOP governing body revealed it had $9.96 million to spend as of November 30, which is less than half what it had to work with when Donald Trump was contesting his first presidential election.

On the day the RNC reported this out the DNC reported having over 20 million on hand. The linked article goes on to say both the RNC and DNC have seen downward trends since 2012. However in the past two reporting periods the RNC’s balance has been only half what the DNC’s has been. Not a great sign for Republicans. Now, it’s worth noting that led by the powerful Koch network an effort is underway to identify and donate directly to GOP candidates and bypass the RNC. They don’t want Trump being able to get his grubby little hands on their money. Still, it matters.

Not only do the National Committees infuse cash where needed in races around the country, they provide a crucial role in setting up and funding things like state and local fundraising for candidates and even more importantly the logistical ability to get voters registered and to cast their votes. The best candidate in the world, or the best funded one (or both) is in a bad spot without a solid on-the-ground GOTV operation. Just ask Mitt Romney, loser of the 2012 Presidential election.

It’s going to be a helluva year in politics and money is the lifeblood of it all. Trump may be getting donations but he is apparently using a big chunk of it for legal expenses. The legality, much less what can be done about that is a longer topic I won’t dig into here. For the moment it’s enough to point out that the RNC is headed into 2024 with a money problem and not only not knowing why but pointing fingers:

While some party activists have described it as an inexplicable contraction in revenue from donors, others have blamed the party’s recent electoral record for having “demoralized” the GOP base.

I’ve already provided an explanation for the “inexplicable contraction in revenue from donors.” Trump’s sucking up all the small dollar donations and big-money folks don’t want to give the RNC money for fear it will wind up in Trump’s hands. I don’t know about you but to me that doesn’t bode well going into a Presidential election year when things are going to be wilder, and sailing in uncharted & stormy waters than we’ve ever seen. The GOP has been on a losing streak in the last three general elections. They got whipped in the 2018 midterms (thanks to Trump), lost the WH in 2020 (while the Democrats gained control of the Senate and although they lost seats in the House still stayed in control) and their “Red Wave” in 2022 didn’t happen. Ok, so the GOP managed to barely gain control of the House but only in name. “Control” isn’t a word anyone including Republicans would apply to the current House of Representatives.

The bottom line quite literally is that the RNC and except for Trump the GOP has a fundraising problem. They don’t want to admit it’s one of their own making because of their refusal to dump Trump. Whatever. The money they expect should be comin in isn’t and they are twisting themselves into pretzels over why. The Newsweek article I linked to quotes RNC member Tennessee’s Oscar Block comment to another outlet:

“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.”

Again, everyone knows the answer. It’s just that in GOP circles admitting it and more importantly doing what needs to be done is something they don’t have the courage to do.