The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $15.9 million in April compared to the Democrat National Committee’s $6.6 million. The RNC has zero debt.

The money raised puts the RNC war chest at $34.7 million while the DNC only has $7.6 million.

Small donors helped propel the RNC to historic numbers in April. The majority of the $15.9 million came from people who donated up to $200. Only $4 million came from large donors.

The DNC had a similar ratio between small donors ($3,084,136) and large donors ($3,065,795).

The RNC raised $30 million from January to March, “with an average donation of $34.26.” From The Washington Examiner:

“Our record-breaking April fundraising haul is yet another example of the outstanding leadership of Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel along with the overwhelming grassroots support for President Trump, and the winning results of a Republican-led agenda,” said RNC Chief of Staff Richard Walters. “Thanks to the president’s supporters, the RNC continues to grow its robust, permanent field program and top-notch data operation so that we can support Republicans up and down the ballot and re-elect President Trump in 2020,” he added.

I have noted numerous times that small donors matter more than large donors. The Democrats seized on this idea a while ago and developed ActBlue. The Republicans finally realized the importance of donors in January when the party made its own small donor fundraising tool called Patriot Pass.

Patriot Pass has a long way to catch up to ActBlue, which has existed for 14 years.

Small donors helped Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016. His fundraiser leader Michael Whitney explained in 2017 that small-dollar donations measure “how much grass-roots enthusiasm a campaign or organization has.”

Unfortunately, a few of those RNC donations came from people with sketchy behavior:

But some big donations to the RNC are coming under scrutiny, with the outlet pointing out that two donors have been embroiled in controversies. Financier John Childs, who gave $100,000 to the RNC, has allegedly been involved in a Florida prostitution ring, a charge he vehemently denied. Casino mogul Steve Wynn, who donated $248,500, has been accused of sexual assault, an allegation he denied. He has not been charged.

The RNC has dominated the DNC in fundraising since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. For example:

The cash allows the RNC to provide money for candidates in key states and districts. They placed nine new regional political directors in “the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley, Southern Atlantic, Florida, Southern Gulf, Midwest, and West, Pacific” and nine directors in states like Florida and Ohio.

The RNC spent $14.7 million, which includes “$2.1 million on legal bills in April, making legal fees one of the committee’s biggest expenses.” They also targeted ‘texting capabilities’ as officials spent $384,000 on “list acquisition” — $294,000 of which was paid to two companies specializing in peer-to-peer texting and text-message marketing, Opn Sesame and Tatango.”

Officials have used technology to share its voter data bank with “every GOP candidate free of charge.” They have also spent money to develop a “‘multi-function app’ for candidates and campaigns that could aide in fundraising, organizing and other political tools.”

Let’s see if this works in 2020 and beyond.



