“Our supporters’ generosity on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump helped win the White House, and that enthusiasm has also carried over past Election Day to power a robust post-election fundraising effort,” said RNC co-chair Sharon Day in a statement. | AP Photo RNC to announce $36.6 million haul

The Republican National Committee raised $36.6 million in the last several weeks of the campaign and the few weeks after, an increase of more than $6 million from the same time frame in 2012, according to numbers provided to POLITICO.

The RNC now says it has $21.4 million in cash on hand and zero debt.


“Our supporters’ generosity on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump helped win the White House, and that enthusiasm has also carried over past Election Day to power a robust post-election fundraising effort,” said RNC co-chair Sharon Day in a statement, which also pointed to the 7,600 staffers and “trained organizers” who helped put Trump over the top.

Average donations from the period in question (Oct. 20 to Nov. 28) came to $64.56, with 97 percent of donations $200 or less. The RNC raised almost $319 million in the 2016 cycle, with $213 million of that in 2016 itself.

The RNC – and most other political committees and campaigns – are required to file detailed finance reports before midnight Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, which will reveal how each committee spent its cash and what percentage of each committee’s total cash haul came from donors who gave $200 or less.

The 2016 cycle was a roller coaster for the RNC, which had to navigate the wide gulf between the Republican Party establishment and the man who eventually won the contentious GOP presidential primary, Donald Trump. Days before the Nov. 8 election, the RNC privately told reporters that its models showed that Trump would likely lose.

The RNC, however, played a key role in Trump’s eventual victory, providing key strategic advice and communications support and taking the lead on the Republican nominee’s ground game.

With longtime RNC chair Reince Priebus soon moving to the White House as chief of staff, the race is on to be the next chair of the RNC; the election for that post will come in January during the committee’s annual winter meeting.

Among the reported possible contenders: Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, who is Mitt Romney’s niece, and Bush administration alum Mercedes Schlapp, who has close ties to the conservative movement. POLITICO reported last week that Vice President-elect Mike Pence has been supportive of Nick Ayers, a Georgia-based operative who advised Pence during the presidential campaign.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who recently expressed interest in running the RNC, is unlikely to get the job, two people familiar with the process said.

On Wednesday, at a closed-door address before several hundred major donors, Trump said that Romney McDaniel was in line for a big job, but did not specify what.

Ken Vogel and Alex Isenstadt contributed reporting.