GOP’s Federal Fundraising Lags Behind Democrats

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel delivers remarks before the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Fla., on Nov. 8, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

With the 2024 election less than a year away, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising apparatuses are taking the lead from the Republican Party.

According to the latest Federal Election Commission filings for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee, the DNC had raised about $92.9 million in total receipts in 2023 between the beginning of the year and Oct. 31. During the same period, the RNC raised about $74 million.

When comparing previous filings for the same period, it’s the first time the DNC has out-raised the RNC during the first 10 months of the year since 2013.

In terms of cash on hand, the RNC held $9.1 million at the end of October, while the DNC held about $17.6 million. In the past five years, the DNC has typically led the RNC in this category at this time. However, at the same point before the 2020 election—October 2019—the RNC held $61.4 million while the DNC had about $8.7 million.

In a statement provided to The Epoch Times, the RNC said it is spending its money on beating President Joe Biden next fall.

“The RNC has already staffed up in 15 states, filed over 70 election integrity lawsuits, launched Bank Your Vote, established a permanent Election Integrity department, and continues to hold Joe Biden’s feet to the fire,” the statement said. “The RNC will continue to communicate with all campaigns and candidates as we look forward to putting our battle-tested infrastructure behind our presidential nominee.”

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The Bank Your Vote initiative is an official drive to push voters toward early in-person and mail-in balloting. Bank Your Vote will also collect ballots to turn in to election officials through so-called ballot harvesting. The RNC’s Election Integrity Department is focused on establishing a network of poll watchers and workers as well as filing relevant litigation.

An RNC official told The Epoch Times the committee has hired staff in 15 battleground states and states vital to the coming House and Senate races. Bank Your Vote has formally launched in California, Florida, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The RNC’s Election Integrity Department will focus on litigation, hiring in-state election integrity directors and lawyers in target states, and recruiting and training thousands of poll watchers and workers, the committee official said.

The Epoch Times reached out to representatives of the DNC but did not receive a reply by press time.

Disappearing Lead

When considering the other central federal committees—the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)—the GOP is falling behind in the overall fundraising race.

According to the committees’ November FEC filings, the cumulative receipts collected by the Republican-aligned groups totaled about $211.4 million. Their Democratic counterparts collected about $255 million.

In the past two election years, the Republican Party’s committees reported higher total receipts than the Democratic Party’s. The margin is shrinking. At the end of October 2019, the GOP’s groups raised about $92.1 million more than the Democrats. At the end of October 2021, the advantage dwindled to $11.3 million.

ActBlue vs. WinRed

When it comes to online organizations affiliated with each party, the Democrats take a massive lead.

ActBlue, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 that raises money electronically for Democratic candidates and liberal causes, is consistently raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

Principally, ActBlue is aimed at donors contributing less than $200. According to its website, it passes along a 3.95 percent processing fee on contributions to groups using its platform. It asks for tips, too.

ActBlue is classified as a hybrid political action committee by the FEC. This, according to the regulatory agency, means it can solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other political committees. It must maintain two bank accounts. One for independent spending on advertisements or voter drives and another for making direct contributions to federal candidates.

According to its latest filing, submitted on July 31, ActBlue collected about $320.5 million in total receipts in the first six months of 2023. In 2022, it collected about $1.5 billion. In 2020, the figure was about $3.4 billion.

In 2019, WinRed—a GOP answer to ActBlue—made its debut. Currently, major GOP candidates are using WinRed to perform similar donation services and run their online campaign merchandise stores. In a June blog on its website, WinRed said it charges a 3.94 percent processing fee for typical donors and 3.2 percent for high-dollar contributors.

Nevertheless, WinRed is lagging far behind ActBlue.

According to its mid-year FEC filing, the GOP-aligned hybrid PAC collected about $183.6 million in total receipts through the first six months of 2023.

In 2022, ActBlue collected about $1.5 billion, while WinRed brought in about $662.2 million. In 2020, ActBlue reported about $3.4 billion in receipts, while WinRed tallied $2.1 billion.

The Epoch Times reached out to representatives of ActBlue and WinRed but did not receive a reply by press time.