The Republican National Committee has broken records raising money for the fall midterm congressional elections, collecting $213 million so far, with up to 99 percent in small donations, a sign supporters remain jazzed about President Trump and his agenda.
Fundraising figures to be released later this week show that Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and her team broke past the $200 million mark “the fastest” ever, helped by a take of $13.9 million in June, a record in a non-presidential year.
What’s more, they have no debt, $50.7 million on hand, some five times what the Democratic National Committee has.
“What I see when I travel the country is that Americans continue to be enthusiastic about President Trump and the Republican agenda,” said McDaniel. She added, “That enthusiasm has allowed for me to grow our war chest and invest it into what has become the biggest ground game in our party’s history.”
In addition to directly trying to help GOP candidates win, the Republican National Committee is also building up its ground game and IT systems.
For example, the party has tripled the number of top tier volunteers, called Republican Leadership Initiative fellows, that it had in 2016. That year, it had 5,000 fellows and that is now 15,000.
It also has a paid staff of 500 in 27 states.
McDaniel has been traveling an average of nearly 300 miles a day since taking the job on January 19, 2017. According to the RNC, she has traveled over 154,000 miles, held over 88 fundraising events, traveled to 29 states, and is on the phone six hours a day with donors.
Along the way, the officials said, McDaniel has changed the donor base for the party, adding over 100,000 new contributors and expanding the list of those giving small donations of $200 or less, with an average of $30.
Said the RNC, “President Trump and Chairman McDaniel have successfully leveraged enthusiasm to attract a brand new contingent of online donors and these new donors aren’t just one time donors – they are more-than-likely to donate multiple times. This is contrary to claims that our initial success with online donors would be short lived as it was just spillover enthusiasm from Trump’s election in November.”
