The Democratic Party's field continues to grow, making it more difficult for lesser known candidates to set themselves a part from their competitors with greater name recognition and more money. The Democratic National Committee, however, is making things even tougher for their 2020 candidates by implementing a number of contingencies for access to DNC's voter database, BuzzFeed News reported.
In order to get their hands on the 50-state database, the 22 Democrats must:
• Agree to pay $175,000 for access to the data.
• Appear at at least one DNC fundraising event every quarter, dubbed "signature events."
• Sign at least one DNC fundraising email every quarter, with the raised funds evenly split between the party and the candidate.
• Record a short video expressing their support for the DNC.
Even after a candidate drops out of the race before the general election, he or she would still be required to fundraise for the DNC.
The move is a clear indication that Perez is worried about fundraising heading into the next election cycle. As of now, the RNC sits at $45.8 million for this election cycle with no debt. The DNC, on the other hand, sits at $20.9 million with $6.6 million in debt.
The Republican National Committee had a record breaking February, when $14.6 million was raised. It was the largest amount ever raised for the month of February in a non-election year. It was the second largest amount ever raised, with the record breaking year being in during 2004's presidential election.
Under Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's leadership, the RNC began fundraising early on. The focus was on what President Donald Trump did in his first 500 days in office. Over the course of five months the RNC dropped videos touting the president's success, which is believed to be the reason for the midterm success.
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The DNC's contingencies are far different from the RNC's requirements back in 2016. The RNC provided the voter data list, with an estimated $250 million value, to campaigns for free. The only contingency was that campaigns also shared their data with the RNC to help grow the voter data and support the eventual nominee.
According to BuzzFeed, a few Democratic candidates agreed to the DNC's conditions, although who they are remains a mystery.
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