Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Here's a very long email about the DNC's fundraising

We can win when the Republicans outspend us, but we need to keep it close.
DemocratsJoin us.
Friend --

I'm Henry Muñoz, the Finance Chair for the Democratic Party. Given my role here, it's probably not a surprise to you that I'm writing to talk about money, and where the DNC stands. I think it's crucial that we take a moment to assess where we are.

In 2017, the Democratic National Committee raised $65.9 million.

That's a lot of money. It's more than any off-cycle year since 2011, and more than we raised in 2005 and 2007 -- years that preceded the Democratic takeover of both chambers of Congress and the election of Barack Obama, respectively.

How are we doing this? It's not because millionaires and billionaires are donating at historic levels -- it's from lots of grassroots donors chipping in what they can, when they can. Nearly two-thirds of the money we raised in 2017 came from supporters giving $200 or less, with an average online donation of $21. For any organization, that's a remarkable number -- and it shows just how excited people are to elect Democrats.

If we're going to win this year, we need supporters like you to take that excitement and energy to the next level. The Democratic Party is going to go as far as you take it, and not an inch further.

Chip in $3 if you're ready to elect Democrats everywhere this year, and let's keep building this party.

If you're still wondering about the power of people like you who give $15 or $25 to impact elections, look no further than last year's marquee races.

Grassroots donors helped the DNC invest $1.5 million to elect Ralph Northam as governor of Virginia. Democrats came together to put him in a strong position to actually govern by flipping 15 seats from red to blue in the House of Delegates -- a feat the state hasn't seen since the late 1800s.

In Alabama, the RNC cut big checks at Donald Trump's request in a desperate attempt to bail out an alleged child molester. We took a different approach (to say the least), and rode a wave of grassroots enthusiasm powered by over 40,000 contributors. The result? The DNC was able to support Doug Jones's campaign to the tune of nearly $1 million, including almost $700,000 that came from supporters who split a donation between the DNC and Doug Jones campaign. That money funded African American and millennial outreach, data, tech, research, and organizers on the ground -- which was almost certainly the difference between winning and losing in that race.

All in all, we're in good shape right now. Our debt is at its lowest point for an off-cycle year since 2009 and we have more cash on hand than we had in 2005 and 2007 -- years that both preceded major Democratic wave elections. We're in especially good shape when you consider that we're fundraising the right way, from the ground up.

You can't say that the Republicans are raising money the right way, not even a little bit. Plus the GOP's one real legislative achievement last year was slashing taxes for the wealthy in a system rigged to favor the 1%. So there's nothing surprising about their ability to attract big donations from the likes of the Koch brothers to pad their war chest -- money is #1 on their list of values and it shows.

Because of all that, the GOP will outraise us. But that's OK, because even though we're being outspent, Democrats are winning on the most important scoreboard in politics -- we're winning elections.

Since Trump took office, we've won over 100 local and state elections and flipped 34 state legislative seats from red to blue. We've picked up seats in deep red districts in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Iowa. And we've won critical races in Virginia, New Jersey, and Alabama, where Doug Jones just became the state's first Democratic senator to be elected in 25 years.

We're winning because Democrats are fighting for working families, for people struggling to make it into the middle class, and for people who didn't inherit their wealth. And we're winning because we're investing in organizing in every ZIP code, building up our state parties, and getting people registered to vote.

We can win while the Republicans are outspending us. We've already proven that. But we can't take anything for granted, and we're not. Your support today will ensure Democrats have the resources to compete and win.

Our work is just getting started. Chip in $3 right now and together we'll elect Democrats nationwide this year.

On Tuesday, November 6th, votes will be counted across the country in an election that could be historic for the Democratic Party.

Right now it's up to us to keep up the fight. Thanks for being a part of it.

Henry

Henry R. Muñoz III
National Finance Chairman
Democratic National Committee

P.S. -- Here's the bottom line: The leader of the Republican Party is a billionaire fighting for billionaires. Of course they're going to have more money than we do. But we can stop them if we come together to take them on. The time to take action is now -- chip in $3 today.






















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