Fundraising slows for key party committees

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Aug 22, 2022 View in browser   By Madison Fernandez Presented by PREMION TOP LINE Fundraising dropped across the board for party committees in July, posting some of the lowest numbers for the year so far. Democrats had a slightly stronger showing than Republicans, with the DSCC raising $10.1 million last month compared to the NRSC's $8.1 million, according to reports filed over the weekend. The DCCC raised $13.5 million, and the NRCC reported it raised $9.8 million in July. The DCCC has been outraising the NRCC all year, and the DSCC has been outraising the NRSC since April. The RNC brought in $11.8 million compared to the DNC's $10.7 million. The RNC has been consistently outraising the DNC this year, with the exception of June. But the fundraising gap is getting smaller, compared to earlier in the year. From January to April, the RNC was bringing in between $3 million and $5 million more than the DNC. In May, the RNC only raised about $1 million more than the DNC. July showed a similar trend, with just about $1.1 million between the committees. The committees have been touting record fundraising throughout the year, but with less than three months to go before midterms, momentum appears to be slowing. All of last month's totals decreased compared to June. The NRCC saw the biggest drop — $6.7 million — from the month prior, when it raised $16.5 million. The DNC and the DCCC also saw large decreases in fundraising from June to July — $4.6 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Even though the RNC raised more than the DNC, July's haul was the lowest amount so far in 2022. Prior to that, the lowest total was in January, when the committee raised $13 million. The DSCC's July fundraising was the second-lowest amount for the committee, compared to April, when it raised $9.1 million. Committee spending and raising is being closely watched heading into the final stretch before midterms and the groups pick up the pace on advertising. Last week, the NRSC canceled over $10 million in ad buys as candidates struggle with fundraising, and the most recent filing shows that its cash on hand has dwindled to $23.2 million — its lowest amount this year. The RNC also has its smallest amount of cash on hand, with $33.6 million. The NRCC is the only Republican committee that has been increasing its coffers, reporting its largest amount of cash on hand — $110 million — in July. Democrats have consistently been holding more in reserve compared to Republicans. The DNC has $59.4 million cash on hand, almost twice as much as its Republican counterpart. The DSCC's $54.1 million war chest is its largest so far this year, almost doubling since January. Slowed fundraising can be attributed to a number of variables, but it's worth noting that three-quarters of voters say the county is headed in the wrong direction and people are increasingly frustrated with the two-party system. Happy Monday! What's your take on " the American dream "? Let me know at mfernandez@politico.com and @madfernandez616. Days until the Florida and New York primaries (and Oklahoma primary runoff): 1 Days until the Massachusetts primary: 15 Days until the Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island primaries: 22 Days until the general election: 78 Days until the 2022 World Cup: 91 Days until the 2024 election: 806   The Women Rule series brings together rising stars, accomplished professionals, and women at the pinnacle of their careers to inform, empower and connect women across diverse sectors and career levels. Attendance to our quarterly in-person POLITICO Women Rule meetings, is by invitation-only. Join our interest list and learn more here.     Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. CAMPAIGN INTEL GRANITE STATE GOP — New Hampshire could provide Republicans a critical pickup — if their candidates don't get in the way. POLITICO's Natalie Allison reports on the divisive New Hampshire primary: "Until now, the low-dollar primary race had been largely uneventful. But in the past week, the GOP candidates have nabbed headlines as [Republican candidate Don] Bolduc and others during debates have trashed federal law enforcement officers, cast doubt on whether Joe Biden is president and called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment — which allows voters to directly choose their U.S. senator, rather than being decided by a state legislature." THANKS, BUT … — Democratic candidates aren't banking on President Joe Biden to bring in the votes for them when it comes to the midterms, The Washington Post's Matt Viser reports. "Few candidates said they wanted Biden to campaign for them in their state or district, with many not responding to the question at all. The Post also asked if candidates wanted Vice President Harris as a surrogate campaigner for the Biden administration and got the same set of unenthusiastic responses." RECORD REPRESENTATION — A record number of LGBTQ officials are serving in the United States, according to a report from the LGBTQ Victory Institute. Between 2021 and 2022, LGBTQ elected officials increased by 5.8 percent, with 1,043 currently serving. Three-quarters of elected officials who identify as LGBTQ are Democrats, and 3 percent are Republicans. Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Dakota are the only states with zero known LGBTQ state legislators, according to the report. RUNNING MATE — Republican candidate for Michigan governor Tudor Dixon has selected former state Rep. Shane Hernandez as her running mate for lieutenant governor. Hernandez served two terms in the House before running for Congress in 2020 and now works in the private sector. "Shane Hernandez as lieutenant governor will help to improve our schools, create safer communities, and improve our economy. Like me, Shane is concerned about the impact rising prices are having on our families," Dixon said in a statement.   A message from PREMION: For winning campaigns, every CTV impression counts With more and more voters cutting the cord, CTV is an essential media channel for engaging them. A new report by Campaigns & Elections and Premion helps political marketers navigate the increasingly fragmented and complex streaming TV marketplace and provides insights for effective planning and buying of CTV advertising. Download the complimentary report, Streaming TV and the Political Market: Navigating CTV Advertising in the 2022 Campaign Cycle here.   SPECIAL ELECTION — Republican Rudy Yakym will appear on the ballot in November to complete the rest of late Rep. Jackie Walorski's term after he received the most votes from Republican precinct committee members. Yakym, Walorski's former finance director, is also running for a full two-year term. "Rudy will be a strong voice for northern Indiana and continue Jackie Walorski's legacy of fighting for conservative values in Washington, D.C.," Indiana Republican Party Chair Kyle Hupfer said. Democrat Paul Steury is running against him in the general election. Indiana Democrats are expected to caucus Tuesday to decide their representative for the special election, per the South Bend Tribune. POLITICO forecasts the race as solid Republican. WRITE-IN — Adam Steen, Robin Vos' Donald Trump-endorsed opponent, will run as a write-in candidate after losing the GOP primary. "Vos, who drew the ire of Trump for repeatedly refusing to take the illegal and impossible step of decertifying the 2020 election, narrowly edged Steen by 260 votes in last week's GOP primary," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Lawrence Andrea reports. Steen has campaigned on decertifying the 2020 presidential election. 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Even after the experience of 2020 and the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — and even as Republicans in the midterms parrot Trump's falsehoods — democracy has polled relatively low on the electorate's list of concerns. The Jan. 6 committee hearings were encouraging. But Democrats competing in elections this year have not been pressing the issue anywhere near as hard as other concerns."   SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     POLL POSITION — A majority of voters — 57 percent — think that the investigations into alleged wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump should continue because if there is wrongdoing by Trump "he needs to be held accountable," according to an NBC News poll . Forty percent think that they should "not continue because they are politically motivated" and divide the nation. (1,000 registered voters, Aug. 12-16, MoE +/- 3.1 percent.) AS SEEN ON TV — NRSC is out with a host of ads against Democrats in battleground states: John Fetterman in Pennsylvania (coordinated with GOP candidate Mehmet Oz); Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin (and another coordinated with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)); and Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona. — Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) distances herself from President Joe Biden in her latest ad. "She doesn't work for Joe Biden," the ad says. "She works for you." THE CASH DASH — Progressive group End Citizens United filed a complaint with the FEC against Republican Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt. The group alleges that Laxalt was "controlling a soft money organization while a federal candidate, and that Laxalt received, and Morning in Nevada PAC made, excessive, unreported, and potentially prohibited in-kind contributions." The group wrote in the complaint that Laxalt used the 2021 Basque Fry event, an annual Republican cookout ran by the Morning in Nevada PAC — which he was president of until August 2021 — "to foster support for his 2022 Senate candidacy." "Adam resigned from Morning in Nevada PAC last year before he became a federal candidate, and he has had nothing to do with the PAC since then," Courtney Holland, Laxalt's communications director, said in a statement. "He was an invited speaker to this year's Basque Fry, along with a number of other federal and state elected officials and candidates. His attendance at the event was certainly permissible, despite the frivolous claims of a leftist, dark money group backing Cortez Masto's campaign." "Adam Laxalt … embodies the corrupt political campaign practices that Nevadans resoundly reject," End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller said in a statement. "We're asking the FEC to immediately investigate Laxalt's violations under the Federal Election Campaign Act." … The PAC spent over $250,000 on an ad buy for Laxalt last week. Watch the ad here. — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) donated $2,000 to Rep. Jerry Nadler's (D-N.Y.) reelection campaign, according to an FEC filing.   A message from PREMION:   Presidential Big Board — The Mar-a-Lago search has "reoriented Trump's thinking about whether he should announce a presidential campaign before or after the midterm elections, according to those who have spoken with him over the past two weeks," NBC News' Marc Caputo, Carol E. Lee, Peter Nicholas and Courtney Kube report . "Trump is now inclined to launch his candidacy after the November elections, in part to avoid blame should an early announcement undermine the GOP's effort to win control of Congress. … Still, there are many in his orbit who believe Trump is shrugging off the legal issues too quickly, and that he's front and center for the wrong reasons." — "Former Vice President Mike Pence said in Waverly Saturday that he's confident Iowans will 'reflect carefully on the opportunity that we have to bring our country back' as they weigh in with their first-in-the-nation caucus selections in 2024," the Des Moines Register's Brianne Pfannenstiel reports . "It was a subtle nod to a potential White House run as Pence was on the ground in Iowa this week — his fourth visit since losing the 2020 election. … Iowa Republicans will play an enormous role in helping to determine the direction of the national party in 2024, taking the first vote on a field of candidates that could include former President Donald Trump." — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stumped for Mastriano on Friday, but his remarks "sounded more like an early appeal to GOP voters in a key swing state than a campaign event to boost Mastriano," POLITICO's Matt Dixon reports. "The national campaign tour comes as DeSantis continues to cash in on his growing popularity with conservative voters and amid continued speculation that he'll launch a bid for president in 2024." STAFFING UP — Alejandra "Allie" Rodriguez has launched Alera Political Communications, a bilingual consulting firm that works to get conservatives elected. She is also press secretary for Rep. María Salazar (R-Fla.). CODA — HEADLINE OF THE DAY: "The New York Primary That's Turned Into a 'Horror Show'" ( The Daily Beast )   A message from PREMION: For winning campaigns, every CTV impression counts With the explosive growth in streaming TV, more and more voters are cutting the cord and Connected TV (CTV) is an essential media channel for engaging them. What are best practices when it comes to buying CTV? When should you be concerned about ad fraud and how can you best mitigate the risk? What should you do to ensure you have access to the CTV inventory you need this cycle? What does a smart CTV ad plan look like in 2022? A new report by Campaigns & Elections and Premion helps answer these questions and more. The report is a must-read for political marketers who need to navigate the increasingly fragmented and complex streaming TV marketplace to effectively plan and buy CTV advertising. Download the complimentary report, Streaming TV and the Political Market: Navigating CTV Advertising in the 2022 Campaign Cycle here.     Follow us on Twitter Steven Shepard @politico_steve Zach Montellaro @zachmontellaro Ally Mutnick @allymutnick Madison Fernandez @madfernandez616   Follow us

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