The fundraising fight has reignited a back-and-forth over which candidate has done more to help Democrats. The Sanders campaign suggested that the way the money-raising venture has been run contradicts “Clinton’s pledges to rebuild state parties.” A campaign press release added that Sanders has “raised money for three progressive Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives” and “unlike the Hillary Victory Fund, every dollar went directly to helping the candidates.”

The DNC refuted the possibility of any wrongdoing. “The suggestion there’s anything unusual about our joint victory funds has no basis in the law or reality, as recognized by numerous independent experts that have looked at this,” Luis Miranda, a DNC spokesperson said in a statement. The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, emphasized its work in support of Democrats nationwide. “Helping Democrats win up and down the ballot is a top priority for Hillary Clinton,” Josh Schwerin, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement, “which is why she’s raised more than $46 million for the DNC and state parties across the country.” He added that “funds raised through the Hillary Victory Fund are now being used to fund and staff organizing programs in Ohio, Virginia, Florida and states across the country.”

Setting spin aside, there are advantages and risks to both strategies. Clinton hopes to strengthen the Democratic Party, and her fundraising strategy stands to bolster party infrastructure. The DNC acts as a gatekeeper for a host of resources that state parties can tap into, ranging from its voter database to research and press operations. There’s a strategic case to be made for the DNC determining how to allocate dollars nationwide given that not every state will be a general election battleground, among other considerations. For Clinton, the approach appears to reflect faith in the ability of the current political system to achieve results, as long as resources are available. But the fundraising has opened up the campaign to charges that it exploited campaign-finance law. To critics, the effort is sure to register as yet another indication of the candidate’s coziness with the political establishment.

The candidates have quite literally opted to spread the wealth differently. Sanders hopes to fundamentally re-make politics, and has pursued a fundraising strategy that appears more likely to upset the status quo. Sanders has powered his campaign with small-dollar donations and made a decision to strike out on his own as he cultivates a new generation of political leaders. In the process, he has assembled an alternate power base on the left made up of like-minded individuals. His success may even signal potential to re-write the rules of political fundraising. But Sanders’s strategy could put party unity at risk as he chooses to bolster candidates like Lucy Flores, who is running in a contested Democratic primary race in Nevada. The fact that Sanders appears to have devoted less attention to institution building, at least at this stage in the race, may make it harder to translate election gains into a political movement with staying power.