Filings show DNC flush with cash at start of Biden term

The Democratic National Committee reported to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday that it ended 2020 with $38.8 million in the bank and $3 million in debts, according to an advance look at its financial filings.

In addition, there is roughly $40 million earmarked for the party, left over from its joint operations with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. This gives the Democrats a roughly $75 million war chest at the start of Biden’s tenure.

“This is a number that is unimaginable,” said Howard Dean, a former party chair.

The DNC was badly outmatched financially in recent years by the Republican National Committee, and the $70 million balance could have significant political consequences for the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.

The RNC also detailed its finances entering 2021 on Sunday.

It had $58 million in the bank as of late November, with former President Donald Trump’s accusations of fraud helping raise tens of millions into its coffers in the days after the election.

Party data, resources and infrastructure undergird candidates up and down the ballot, and Democratic officials are already dreaming of early investments in voter registration that may accelerate the political realignment Democrats are hoping to bring about in key Sun Belt states.

A flush DNC is a far cry from early 2019, when the party could barely pay its bills and even had to take out monthly $1 million loans — four times in five months, at one point — just to cover operational costs.

As recently as September of that year, the party’s cash in the bank totaled less than $1 million more than its debts; that same month, the RNC had more than $53 million in the bank.

“We had to juggle who we were going to pay,” Tom Perez, who until last month was chair of the DNC, said of the early part of his tenure, which began in 2017.

Now the party has more resources — and possibilities to invest — than ever before.

“We are built to last for years to come,” Perez said.

Perez has been succeeded as party chair by Jaime Harrison, who lost his bid last year to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

With Biden occupying the White House, the party also has an institutionalist president who is expected to invest far more than his predecessors in party-building efforts.

Former President Barack Obama famously shunned the party apparatus in favor of his own organization, a move widely thought to have harmed the party as Democrats ceded control of state legislative chambers and governorships during his two terms.

Biden’s choice of Harrison, a former state party chair in South Carolina, has buoyed the hopes of some state-level leaders, who often feel forgotten, that they will be better treated in the Biden era.

Harrison has already pledged a “50-state” investment strategy, pushing to embed the party into communities and states that are off the traditional battleground map.

“Organize, organize, organize” is his early mantra. And while money does not ensure success — Harrison himself lost after breaking fundraising records with his $132 million Senate run — it tends to make everything easier.

The party had nearly 2 million contributors in 2020 and ended the year with $38.8 million across its main account and a second fund called the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, which exists for big donors.

It had about $3 million in debts, mostly for legal services.

Perez said the party now has close to 200 staff members — almost double the 110 workers who were on the payroll four years ago — and ongoing revenue is sufficient to maintain that size.

The party’s program encouraging small donors to give regularly brings in more than $1 million per month, officials said.

Four years ago, there was no text messaging program for fundraising; in January, the party projected it raised $2 million just from its text messaging program.

Donna Brazile, who has twice served as acting chair of the party, said she could hardly believe it when she recently learned how much money the party had on hand.

“It’s amazing,” Brazile said, adding that Democrats had the opportunity to spend money in often forgotten places, like emerging swing states, rather than just the current ones.