Winning the Senate majority has had its perks for the Republicans, but raising more money than the Democrats isn’t one of them.
Three months into the year, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has outraised its Republican counterpart by $3.1 million, pulling in $14 million to the NRSC’s $10.9 million. The DSCC also stockpiled more cash, banking more than $7.1 million versus the NRSC’s $5.3 million. The early fundraising victory by the Democrats follows a humiliating defeat in the November midterms, when they surrendered to the Republicans nine seats and majority control that had lasted eight years.
The DSCC is still carrying more than double the NRSC’s $6 million debt load — a product of a failed last-ditch effort to save the Democratic majority in an election that made a decisive break toward the GOP in the final days of the campaign. Senate Republicans are raising money at a healthy clip compared with their performance in previous election cycles, narrowing their traditional shortcoming to the Democratic Senate committee, at least.
But in maintaining the enthusiasm of their donors despite their November losses, Democrats are positioning themselves to cause problems for the Republicans in 2016. Much like last year, when Democrats were defending threatened seats in a host of Republican-friendly states, the GOP’s new five-seat majority rests on the party’s ability to backstop incumbents running for re-election in blue territory. That could be a tall order with the presidential contest leading the ticket.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chairman of the NRSC, formerly the National Republican Senatorial Committee, commended his organization’s 2015 fundraising and dismissed suggestions that the Democrats’ stay in the minority would be short.
“We are very pleased with the record year, and the pace that we’re setting with our fundraising,” he told the Washington Examiner last week. “If we do as I expect and defend these 24 seats, retain the majority in 2016, I honestly believe we will govern as a majority for the next decade. So this is a pivotal moment and I think donors realize that.”
The Democrats’ superior fundraising has been fueled over the past decade by two key advantages: money transfers from members and online giving by small donors.
Senate Democrats transfer far more money from their personal re-election campaigns to the DSCC than Republicans do to the NRSC. The DSCC also has a more robust digital program that regularly brings in millions in online donations. Both fundraising programs have the added benefit of requiring a minimal investment from the DSCC.
The NRSC, which raised a measly $366,000 online in January 2013, refocused and has been investing in its digital program for the past two years. Only recently has the effort begun to pay off, with the committee raising seven figures from Internet donors over a month.
Committee officials note that this year, the NRSC had its best February ever for a non-election year, while the DSCC depended on a $1.8 million investment in direct mail in January — $700,000 more than two years previous — to bolster first-quarter giving. DSCC officials declined to discuss fundraising strategy. They chalked up their financial advantage over the NRSC to optimism among their supporters that the Senate majority is within their grasp in 2016.
Their enthusiasm is well founded. The Republicans are defending seats in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three states that haven’t voted GOP for president since the 1980s. The Republicans also are defending seats in a collection of swing states, among them Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio. In another one, Florida, the GOP is under pressure to hold an open seat vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio to run for president.
In an interview, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the DSCC chairman, gave credit for early fundraising successes to his staff at the committee and said a favorable map is helping him make the sale to donors that 2016 is worth their investment. But he sought to downplay the advantage. Tester pointed out that the influence of super PACs on Senate races continues to grow and undermine the political strength of the party committees.
In addition to outside groups that spend heavily on congressional races, Senate Democrats have their own super PAC, called Senate Majority PAC. Not to be outdone, the Republicans this cycle established a competing super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund.
“We’re happy with the way fundraising has gone so far. But there’s so many groups that can throw in dark money now that the money’s important — but also the other money’s important, too. So we have to keep our foot to the metal,” Tester said.
