One GOP email solicitation asks donors to pony up because of Hillary Clinton’s history of “attacking sexual harassment victims, defending an accused child rapist, [and] playing a major role in the Whitewater and Benghazi scandals.” A Democratic email highlights Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigrants: “Stand with us and denounce Donald Trump’s bigoted plan.”

Congressional Republicans and Democrats may despise the other party’s pick for the White House, but let’s face it: Trump and Clinton are great for business. The business, that is, of raising huge sums of money for the battle to control the Senate and House in 2017.


Both Republican and Democratic congressional fundraising committees see major monetary promise in the other party’s candidates. For the right, Clinton’s endless cloud of controversies — from Whitewater to the ongoing FBI investigation of her email practices as secretary of state — offers a gold mine for their cash operations. Ditto for the left and Trump’s comments about deporting Hispanics, banning Muslims and punishing women who’ve had abortions.

Each side says the specter of the other’s presumed nominee has already been critical to priming the financial pump. National Republican Congressional Committee Web pages mentioning Clinton, for example, are bringing in 44 percent more in revenue than pages without her, officials say. And Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Luján believes Trump’s primary romp in the first quarter of this year is a key reason his outfit raised $25 million — a record, he said, for the first part of a presidential campaign cycle.

“With Trump as the front-runner, the DCCC has seen a major spike in grass-roots enthusiasm and donations,” the New Mexico Democrat said in an interview. “Trump at the top of the ticket … provides a greater opportunity to gain seats. Our supporters are more engaged and generous to ensure Democrats have the resources necessary to win.”

Republican fundraising committees weeks ago started trumpeting the most controversial parts of Clinton’s past, even highlighting years-old but sensitive issues like her defense of an accused child rapist as a criminal defense attorney early in her career.

“She’s a living history of scandal, lies and spin,” says the narrator in a new National Republican Senatorial Committee video set to dramatic music and a thudding background heartbeat. “Defended an accused child rapist, then laughed about his lenient sentence. Whitewater. Travel-gate. China-gate. File-gate… She politically attacked sexual harassment victims… Democrat Senate candidates, she is your burden to bear.”

That video is tucked into an NRSC email blasted out Sunday, asking to "show that you're #NEVERHILLARY... with your donation of just $3 or more today.”

Another NRCC email to donors Wednesday lists another series of Clinton controversies: “Benghazi coverup, sending classified information through her private, unsecured email server, improper ties between the Clinton Foundation and State Department contracts. When is enough, enough?"

NRCC spokeswoman Katie Martin said internal committee data confirm Clinton's effect on donors. More than 60 percent of all NRCC sales are for items, such as bumper stickers, branded “Hill No!" And emails that mention Clinton have a 10 percent higher engagement rate than ones that don't, NRCC officials told POLITICO.

Another sure tell: The NRCC’s second-best online fundraising day last year was the day Clinton announced her candidacy for president. And now, the committee has a record amount of cash on hand: $50 million, more than in any presidential election cycle before.

NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said Clinton's politics are as much of a factor as her controversies, with many viewing her candidacy as a continuation of the Obama administration.

“The whole Clinton history is such that just as [Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi has motivated our bases because she has such a liberal agenda set, I think Hillary Clinton is going to be right there with her,” Walden said. “Our supporters don’t want to see the Obama philosophy perpetuated for another four years.”

Democrats are similarly finding that invoking Trump opens wallets. In the period since the New York mogul won the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9, the campaign arm has raised nearly $1.5 million just from emails that focus on him, officials said.

The DCCC tapped Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) personally to send an email to donors just hours after Trump first came out with his pitch to ban Muslim immigration last December.

“Was I shocked when Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering America? Sadly, no,” Ellison wrote. “That’s why I’m asking you to take a stand: Denounce the Republicans’ anti-Muslim bigotry right away.”

Months later, they’re still offering “stop bigotry” stickers to donors who respond to online solicitations.

Democrats have also raise money off of Trump's success. After the Manhattan mogul won the New York primary on April 19, for example, the DCCC asked supporters for money to stop the former reality TV star from making it to the White House.

“After Donald Trump’s huge victory in New York last night, one thing is clear. We CANNOT allow him to be our president,” the email read. “We need $150,000 in the door by midnight tonight to fight back…. Will you chip in $5 to defeat Republicans?”

Lujan said linking Trump to Hill Republicans is an easy call, in part because he believes Trump's comments are “putting a national spotlight on House Republicans' extreme tea party positions.”

“Donors want to beat Trump but also House Republicans that are spewing similar divisive, anti-women, anti-immigrant positions that have helped pave the way for his rise,” he said.

Trump, however, may be giving a boost to House Republicans, too. Many Republican donors, Walden said, fear that Clinton will beat Trump and Democrats will take the Senate. That would make the House the last bulwark against a Democratic-controlled Washington, the NRCC head said.

“There’s certainly a large donor block that is very committed to making sure we maintain a majority of the House, because they realize the Senate is a bit tenuous… and the White House is clearly in play as well,” he said. “The House is the backstop guarantee you can invest in and secure. So we’re finding that while donors may have fatigue elsewhere, they’re bought into our program because we’ve delivered results.”

