Trump and the GOP's Fundraising Operations Are Dominating the Dems

There’s something odd happening as we get into the thick of the 2026 midterm season: Republicans are raking in the cash. Sure, there are spots where Democratic candidates, such as Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), are doing well with fundraising, but overall, it’s red all over. It’s usually the opposite, with Democrats being the big money party, outraising and outspending Republicans—Donald Trump knows a thing or two about that in 2016. But the tables have turned: Trump is president again, Republicans are back in control of Congress, and the Democratic Party brand is viewed atrociously by voters, the worst in over half a century. Democrats are hoping for a Trump trip-up from which they can capitalize, but none has materialized.

The president keeps inking new trade deals, growing the economy, and, as of late, hashing out peace agreements. One network seeks to use all this political ammunition to keep the war chests filled and Republicans in control. You've likely heard of WinRed, the donation platform that Ryan Lyk runs and was established by a joint effort of the Trump Campaign, the RNC, the NRSC, and the NRCC to mobilize armies of small donors for the Republican Party. The fundraising arm has processed billions for GOP candidates, becoming a mainstay for the party, while also maximizing efficiency with small donors. It was also designed to prevent campaigns from having a bloated staff. It’s a lean and mean operation. Mr. Lyk had an excellent thread on WinRed’s operations thus far:

This isn’t just infrastructure — it’s a competitive edge. In 2024:

→ 81% of GOP primary winners used WinRed
→ 97% of them won the general pic.twitter.com/edp1FJohQp
— Lyk (@RyanLyk) August 10, 2025

State-level fundraising is exploding:

→ +1,409% since 2020
→ Donations per donor up 108%

WinRed’s tools are helping down-ballot campaigns scale fast—and smart.
— Lyk (@RyanLyk) August 10, 2025

Feature adoption is accelerating too:

→ Widget usage up 4,300% (adds +7% conversions)
→ Money Pledge usage up 900%
→ Merch stores more than doubled

Campaigns are becoming more creative—and more optimized.
— Lyk (@RyanLyk) August 10, 2025

Donor Profiles are booming:

→ 5x growth overall
→ 7x growth in House Donor Profiles

These aren’t just vanity stats—they’re fueling better retention and performance.
— Lyk (@RyanLyk) August 10, 2025

Trump’s operation has amassed a $1.4 billion war chest already. And when even Politico is grimacing over Democrats’ shoddy fundraising numbers, there might be trouble. Sure, it’s early, but the candidates who have become the Democrats’ faces for next year’s cycle are even more insane than the last (via Politico):

Many Democrats are betting on a blue wave next year to help them regain favor with disenchanted voters and claw back some control in Washington — but several key indicators are turning into warning signs instead.
Recent polling shows Democrats are still struggling to regain their footing with voters who lurched right in 2024, and that’s compounded by growing gaps in fundraising, an increasing number of messy primaries and a congressional map that Republicans are redrawing to make it harder for Democrats to win.
“I don’t see a blue wave,” said Matt Taglia, the senior director of Emerson College polling, a non-partisan group that routinely administers political opinion surveys. “It’s more like a blue trickle.”
Still, as Democrats go on offense during the August recess, they are trying to juice up a blue wave by stoking backlash to the policies enacted under a Republican trifecta. They’ve tried rolling out a variety of playbooks already, on President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, tariffs and economic woes that could come from the megabill.

Well, the Epstein story is dead, the redrawn maps story is silly since Democrats gerrymander, too—and it’s legal—and what economic woes are these liberals talking about? They’re not real ones. It gets back to messaging, leaders, and an attractive competing agenda, which Democrats lack in all three areas. Even if ActBlue wasn’t a mess, which it is, they’d struggle raising cash. No one likes the Democrats, especially…among Democrats.

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