The Democratic impeachment hearings targeting President Trump have prompted Republican donors to “double down” in support of reelection and even drawn in contributors who had stopped supporting the party, according to the Republican National Committee chairwoman.
In fact, Ronna McDaniel said, the impeachment fundraising bump has been bigger than the one seen during the bitter partisan fight over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“I started to see donors that had gone off-line from the RNC that hadn’t contributed since 2012, 2014, suddenly call and say, ‘I’m back in.’ And they have stayed reengaged,” McDaniel said.
“It’s the first time since Kavanaugh that I’ve actually had people call and say ‘I’m going to give you money’ — without having me call them. It was magnificent,” she said at a media breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
“We are continuing to see that. It has not pulled anyone away,” she added.
McDaniel said the party has carefully watched the effect of impeachment proceedings on donors and has found no issues.
“The investment has been as strong as ever,” she said. “If our donors were concerned, they’d be pulling back,” she said, adding that they “are doubling down in support of the president.”
Secrets this week reported that the debt-free RNC brought in $25.3 million in October and has $61.4 million in cash on hand. She called that an all-time record, one of many under McDaniel.
By comparison, the Democratic National Committee has about $8.7 million in cash on hand and more than $7 million in debt.
McDaniel credited Trump, “a small dollar juggernaut,” donor prospecting that has increased its email list from 11 million to 30 million, the new WinRed small-dollar fundraising site, and a percentage increase of big donor contributions.
