For the first time in modern history, both parties are growing reliant on — and beholden to — their online constituents.
A man points toward the stage before former President Donald Trump's appearance at the "Rally to Protect Our Elections" conference in Phoenix on July 24.Brandon Bell / Getty Images
Aug. 1, 2021, 12:09 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 2, 2021, 9:41 AM EDT
By Alex Seitz-Wald and Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON — Republicans are beginning to catch up with Democrats in online fundraising, creating for the first time in modern history a political landscape where both parties are largely funded by small donations — for better or, some say, for worse.
Democrats, who have dominated online fundraising since the early days of the internet, have claimed that the billions they raise in small donations are evidence that they are the party of the people, less reliant on wealthy donors and business interests than the GOP.
Republicans have spent years playing catch-up, mostly unsuccessfully. But now, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections, they are starting to pull even, thanks in large part to former President Donald Trump and his army of online devotees.
“This is the harvest of the seeds of digital infrastructure Republicans have been planting for years,” said Matt Gorman, a GOP strategist who worked for the party’s congressional campaign arm during the last midterm election. “That's why you’re seeing things like freshman members of the House raising over $1 million (in a single quarter). In 2018, we were begging folks to raise a fifth of that.”
Even out of office, Trump continues to raise massive sums of money, largely online. He announced Saturday that his political groups had collected nearly $82 million in the first half of the year (a total that includes transfers from other committees), giving him a war chest of more than $102 million.
In the last quarter, the GOP’s three main party committees raised nearly identical amounts as their Democratic counterparts in small donations.
The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee together pulled in $77.65 million in donations of less than $200 in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to Democrats’ $77.7 million for their corresponding groups.
Each sum accounted for an identical share, 57 percent, of the committees’ take from individual donors, according to an NBC News analysis of campaign finance reports.
Leveling the playing field
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections... https://link.theplatform.com/s/rksNhC/3HQ6...
Posted By: Steve Williams
Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 at 1:58AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
