DNC Invests $2 Million to Win Key Down-Ballot Races in 11 Non-Battleground States

Democrats look to break state GOP supermajorities. ‘We’re investing now to build infrastructure and win big up and down the ballot,’ the DNC chair said.

Voters cast their ballots at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kan., on Nov. 8, 2022. Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has announced nearly $2 million in new grants to state parties in 11 non-battleground states to boost down-ballot races and fund key voter organizing and registration efforts both ahead of the November general election and for years to come.

The DNC said in its June 10 announcement that the effort is part of its ongoing commitment to state parties.

To that end, Democrats have increased their yearly investment in state parties by 25 percent, with total funding in this election cycle now reaching more than $20 million.

“This latest investment is a boost to the DNC’S record-setting support for state parties under President Biden, the best Party-builder Democrats have had in decades,” Ken Martin, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, said in a statement. “Today’s announced funding, tailor made to meet the individual needs of state parties—whether in rural or urban, red or blue states—will strengthen and expand Democrats’ organizing programs for years to come.”

The $2 million in new grants will be used for such initiatives as enhancing on-the-ground organization and strengthening data infrastructure to boost voter turnout.

The DNC hopes that the investments will help the party hold onto vulnerable seats and challenge those now held by Republicans. In Indiana and Kansas, in which the DNC has invested about $500,000 each this cycle, it says it’s just several seats away from breaking Republican supermajorities.

“Everywhere Democrats are on the ballot this November—from the school board to the White House—we’re fighting to win,” DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “We’re investing now to build infrastructure and win big up and down the ballot because we know the stakes couldn’t be higher.”

The new spending targets Maryland, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), which underwent a leadership shakeup earlier this year, has also made state-level investment a priority.

It recently launched an initiative called Trump Force 47 that seeks to engage highly targeted voters in key battleground states through a “neighbor-to-neighbor” grassroots organizing program.

Subsequently, the RNC announced the Swamp The Vote USA drive, which is the successor to the RNC’s Bank Your Vote program, seeking to leverage personalized voter contacts to generate new absentee or mail ballot registrations and early in-person voting commitments.

DNC’s State-Specific Grants

Part of the DNC’s new spending will be directed toward federal races in traditionally blue states, while some of it seeks to challenge Republican strongholds such as Indiana.

In Colorado, where many young people are reaching voting age, the DNC is making a six-figure investment in campus organizing programs across the state. In total, the Democratic Party has invested more than $470,000 in Colorado in this cycle, with the DNC saying it hopes that these efforts will solidify the party’s status in the state “for years to come.”

In Indiana, the DNC is making a five-figure investment to help support the party’s data and organizing infrastructure in a bid to hold three incumbent state legislators and target five Republican seats.

“A four-seat gain allows Democrats to break the GOP supermajority for the first time in 12 years,” the DNC said in a statement, noting that it has spent more than $535,000 in Indiana so far this cycle.

Democrats are also trying to break up the Republican legislative supermajority in Kansas, where the DNC says it’s just one seat away in both chambers from doing so. In Kansas, the DNC is spending another $55,000, bringing the total this cycle to upward of $467,000.

In Maryland, the DNC will invest $250,000 to help fund a coordinated campaign staff and organizers for Democratic nominee Angela Alsobrooks, who is competing in a U.S. Senate race. The DNC has spent more than $608,000 so far this election cycle in Maryland.

In New Mexico, the DNC is putting more than $70,000 toward organizing staff for Rep. Gabe Vasquez’s (D-N.M.) reelection rematch against Republican candidate Yvette Herrell in the Second Congressional District.

The DNC is boosting efforts in Utah by investing $45,000; Nebraska will see $40,000 to fund rural organizers, while six-figure investments in Washington and South Dakota will be provided to hire local and indigenous organizers.

Minnesota will also see a more than six-figure contribution for data gathering, as well as for communicating with and organizing people who live in apartments in Minneapolis, a city with one of the highest apartment renting rates in the country.

The announcement of $2 million in new grants is off the back of a DNC fundraising haul of $224 million from the 2022 midterm elections through the end of April, according to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) filings. The Biden reelection campaign has raised about $195 million over roughly the same period.

By contrast, the RNC has raised $162 million over the same period, while former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has raised $124 million, per FEC data.

Entering the second quarter of this year, the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party had a nearly $100 million cash-on-hand advantage over the Trump campaign and the Republican Party, although the GOP has been outraising Democrats in recent weeks.