a tale of two parties
The DNC is reportedly 'dead broke.' The RNC has nearly $40 million.
The Democratic National Committee had a rough 2017, plagued by leadership troubles, internal squabbling, and unflattering reports. To top it off, the party ended the year "dead broke," says The Intercept's Ryan Grim.
The Democratic Party is carrying more than $6 million in debt, according to year-end filings — and has just $6.5 million in the bank. Do the math, and the party is working with just over $400,000 overall. Meanwhile, the Republicans are swimming in pools of money. The Republican National Committee had raised $132 million by the end of 2017 — about twice as much as the DNC — and entered 2018 with almost $40 million to spare, with not a penny of debt.
The DNC's rebuttal, The Washington Post reports, is that they raised more money in 2017 than they have in previous non-election years and were operating at something of a disadvantage given the "rebuilding job" undertaken by first-year chairman Tom Perez. While the DNC claims it is not borrowing money to pay the bills, Grim notes that the party would be operating at a financial loss if not for its borrowing.
If there is any cause for Democratic optimism, it's that individual Democratic candidates seem to be doing well for themselves even as the national party apparatus struggles. NBC News reported Thursday that nearly 50 non-incumbent Democrats running for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections outraised their Republican opponents in the last quarter of 2017.