RGA Tops DGA in 2015 Fundraising, Has 3-1 Cash On Hand Advantage For 2016 Governor Races

February 1, 2016

2015 fundraising figures for the RGA and DGA were released yesterday, which shows Republicans are in far better shape than Democrats to target governorships in 2016:

  • The RGA raised $45.1 million in 2015, compared to the DGA’s $30.2 million.
  • The RGA has a near 3-1 cash on hand advantage over the DGA, with $25.4 million in the bank.
  • The DGA refused to release their current cash on hand, but estimates, based on their contributions and expenditures on their 8872 and assuming they started January 1 with no debt, show they have only about $9 million cash on hand.
  • The DGA’s 527 raised $25 million for 2015, but they announced $30.2 million, which means the DGA raised over $5 million in “dark money.” 2015 DGA Chairman & Montana Governor Steve Bullock made “limiting the influence of dark money” one of his main agenda items. So much for that.
  • The DGA’s totals also include millions in corporate donations. 2015 DGA Chairman Steve Bullock has spent years decrying the influence of corporate money in politics, and fought to ban corporate donations in Montana.

Bottom line: Out of the 12 gubernatorial elections in 2016, Democrats are facing 5 open seats. With a large majority of party flips in governorships occurring during open seat contests, the RGA is well positioned to compete, win and expand the majority of Republican governors this year.

RGA Tops DGA In 2015 Fundraising
National Journal; 2/1/2016

The Re­pub­lic­an Gov­ernors As­so­ci­ation out­raised its Demo­crat­ic coun­ter­part in 2015, ac­cord­ing to fun­drais­ing re­ports re­leased Monday. The two com­mit­tees are com­pet­ing for con­trol of 12 gubernat­ori­al seats on the bal­lot in Novem­ber.

The RGA raised $45.1 mil­lion in 2015, in­clud­ing $20.7 mil­lion raised in the fi­nal six months of the year. The Demo­crat­ic Gov­ernors As­so­ci­ation raised $13 mil­lion in the second half of the year, ac­cord­ing to fig­ures provided to Na­tion­al Journ­al, bring­ing its year-end total to $30.2 mil­lion.

“The $30 mil­lion in­vest­ment in the DGA in 2015 is a re­flec­tion of the grow­ing im­port­ance of state elec­tions, head­ing in­to re­dis­trict­ing in 2020,” said DGA ex­ec­ut­ive dir­ect­or Elisa­beth Pear­son.

The RGA ended the year with $25.4 mil­lion in cash on hand. The DGA did not re­veal its cash-on-hand fig­ure in a re­lease, and pub­lic re­ports due last night are not yet avail­able.

In re­cent years, the RGA has con­sist­ently brought in more money than the DGA, and that fun­drais­ing suc­cess has trans­lated in­to a string of vic­tor­ies in the midterm elec­tions—which were strong GOP years up and down the tick­et. Re­pub­lic­ans con­trol 31 gov­ernor­ships, while Demo­crats con­trol 18.

In a state­ment, RGA ex­ec­ut­ive dir­ect­or Paul Ben­necke said, “With these fin­an­cial re­sources, the RGA is well-pre­pared for the 12 gubernat­ori­al elec­tions this year where we will de­fend our in­cum­bent gov­ernors and go on of­fense in many states to ex­pand our ma­jor­ity.”

At least a half-dozen gubernat­ori­al races sched­uled for this year are ex­pec­ted to be closely con­tested, in­clud­ing open races in Mis­souri, New Hamp­shire, and West Vir­gin­ia, as well as a trio of races in­volving vul­ner­able in­cum­bents. Re­pub­lic­an Govs. Mike Pence and Pat Mc­Crory are likely to face tough con­tests for reelec­tion in In­di­ana and North Car­o­lina, re­spect­ively, as is Demo­crat­ic Gov. Steve Bul­lock in Montana.

Both com­mit­tees had a mixed re­cord of suc­cess in 2015. Re­pub­lic­an Matt Bev­in won an un­ex­pec­ted vic­tory in the gov­ernor’s race in Ken­tucky, while Demo­crats landed an even more un­likely win in Louisi­ana in Novem­ber.

The two com­mit­tees are un­der new lead­er­ship head­ing in­to this cycle. Last fall, New Mex­ico Gov. Susana Mar­tinez took over as chair of the RGA and Con­necti­c­ut Gov. Dan­nel Mal­loy took the helm at the DGA.