DNC announces fundraising agreement with Clinton campaign

After months of discord and delay, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that it signed a joint fundraising agreement with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The document will enable the DNC and the campaign to conduct events and other fundraising activities together that will generate money for both entities. Clinton wouldn’t have access to the money unless and until she’s the nominee — but this is seen as an essential step for banking cash to counter what’s expected to be massive Republican spending next year.


“Through this agreement and others we will sign with our party’s candidates, we are building the organization we will need now to make sure that whoever our nominee is, they are in the best possible position to win next November,” said DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

All 50 state parties were invited to join the agreement as well. Several had already pursued their own joint fundraising agreements with the Clinton campaign while the DNC had held off on signing — largely over disagreements over how the money would be able to be spent. The Clinton campaign, wary of management and structural problems at the DNC, insisted on a tight rein on spending.

A DNC official said the money would build infrastructure to “to support whoever the eventual Democratic nominee is — as soon as there is a nominee. It will help the party make critical investments in technology, in voter outreach and in helping get out our message leading up to the general election in 2016.”

DNC officials announced the news to state party chairs and other DNC members gathered in Minneapolis for the summer meeting, starting Thursday and running through the weekend.

The DNC says it’s pursuing similar agreements with the other Democratic primary campaigns, but so far, those haven’t materialized.