The Republican National Committee reported yesterday that it raised $9.6 million in contributions during the month of January. That’s not bad. It’s better than any recent comparable January after an election. It’s up from $6.7 million in January 2015 (the January after the 2014 midterm) and $5.5 million in the January after the last presidential election.
But it’s actually less than the $10.2 million that the RNC raised in contributions in January 2005 — the last January after a Republican won. And if you consider inflation and increased contribution limits, it becomes a bit less impressive still.
The reason there’s a much bigger number floating out there — $19.8 million — is that contributions aren’t the only source of a party committee’s revenue. And there’s a doozy in this report: An unusually high $8.2 million in “offsets to operating expenditures” for the month. The itemized information about precisely what this means is not available yet from the FEC website.
This enormous amount in an obscure category — which includes rebates, reimbursements and deposits returned — appears to have no predecessor in any past post-election January that I can find. In January 2005, the committee reported $158,428 in offsets. In January 2009, it was $41,000. In January 2013, it was $47,000.
In fact, going over the RNC’s monthly reports for the last four years, there’s only one — the year-end report for 2016 — that shows offsets of more than even $1 million.
So what’s this $8 million all about? We’ll have a chance to see once the itemized data is processed. But whatever this turns out to be, it’s probably wise for now not to include this $8.2 million when discussing the committee’s fundraising prowess in the Trump era.
