Tipsheet

DNC On Tuesday: Fundraising Is Fine. DNC Now: We're Firing Our Top Fundraiser

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 03, 2017 12:50 PM

In terms of fundraising, the Democratic National Committee is bleeding to death. The DNC is hemorrhaging cash and falling very much behind their Republican counterparts. It’s all part of the Democratic Party’s woes post-2016, especially when it comes to small donors. The Left’s army on that front has evaporated, with the GOP filling that void. The Hill offered a glimpse of the dismal numbers from the two committees’ September fundraising haul. The discrepancy is rather explicit:

Recently released numbers show the DNC raised around $4 million during the month of September, while the RNC raised about $10 million.

The data also showed that the RNC has roughly $44 million in cash on hand, while the DNC has roughly $7 million.

The RNC reports having no debt, while the DNC has $3.7 million in debt.

The numbers show an expanding money gap between the national party committees, with the RNC raising more than $104 million so far this year while the DNC has raised a little over $51 million.

And this has been a problem for some time. Now, heads are rolling at the DNC, with a top fundraiser being fired for the lackluster performance (via Politico):

The Democratic National Committee dismissed its top fundraiser Thursday after just five months on the job, two Democrats familiar with the move told POLITICO.

Emily Mellencamp Smith, the party’s finance director, was let go in a shake-up of the party’s senior leadership designed to energize the party's fundraising.

[…]

Mellencamp Smith joined the DNC in June after leading the fundraising operation for New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan’s Senate campaign. One of the new lead staffers Perez brought in to rejuvenate the committee, she previously worked for other Democrats, including Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and New Hampshire Rep. Ann McLane Kuster.

This move runs contrary to what DNC chair Tom Perez told McClatchy’s Alex Roarty and other reporters at the Christian Science Monitor’s breakfast on Tuesday; he said fundraising was going well at the DNC.