For years, Democrats made complaining about money in politics their entire personality. Citizens United was the boogeyman. Super PACs were destroying democracy. Dark money was the root of all evil. They said all of this, of course, while raising more money than anyone else in the room. Funny how that works.
Well, the Q2 fundraising numbers are in, as USA Journal reported, and the Democrats' money in politics problem has taken on a whole new meaning. Specifically, they don't have any.
Total Republican committee cash on hand as of June 30: $677 million. Total Democratic committee cash on hand: $136 million. That is a five to one advantage. For context, that is the kind of ratio you see when someone brings a knife to a gunfight and the knife is also made of foam.
The NRCC pulled in $35.4 million in Q2 and is sitting on $92.7 million in cash. The DCCC has $79 million. That House committee gap of nearly $14 million is actually the least embarrassing number for Democrats, which tells you everything about how the rest of this is going.
The DNC numbers are where things get truly special. Sixteen million dollars in the bank. Eighteen and a half million in debt. That puts the national Democratic Party's net position at negative $2.5 million. The organization responsible for coordinating messaging, supporting candidates, and funding the ground game is functionally operating like a college senior's checking account the week before payday. Except payday might not be coming.
Democrats keep saying small dollar donors will surge and anti-Trump energy will close the gap by October. The numbers through June suggest that surge is stuck in traffic somewhere. The generic ballot shows anti-Trump energy among Democratic voters has dropped 21 points since 2018. Internal party polling apparently required NDAs before senior officers could even look at it, which is never a sign that things are going great.
NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella put it this way: "Republicans are building a campaign machine to win. Democrats are still holding clown-show socialist auditions to decide who gets to lose in November." Harsh, but when your party just gave 72% of a primary vote to Graham Platner, a candidate who turned out to have a Nazi tattoo, the jokes kind of write themselves.
Meanwhile, MAGA Inc. alone is sitting on $400 million. The RNC has $128.5 million. The NRSC has $55.9 million. Republicans have built the kind of war chest that lets you play offense in districts you have no business competing in, force Democrats to burn cash defending supposedly safe seats, and still have money left over for the close races.
The party that spent two decades lecturing America about how money was corrupting politics is now getting outspent five to one. Turns out money in politics is only a problem when the other side has more of it.
The only remaining question is whether Republicans will spend wisely enough to deserve what voters seem ready to hand them. History suggests that is never guaranteed, but at least they will have $677 million worth of chances to figure it out.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
