RNC Heads Into Presidential Election Year With A Small Fraction Of What It Had Four Years Ago

The party has $7.6 million heading into 2024, barely a tenth of what it had at the start of 2020 after accounting for inflation and creating anxiety among members.

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee heads into the 2024 presidential election year with just $7.6 million available, barely a tenth of what it had four years ago, after accounting for inflation.

Even compared to the end of 2015, the last time it was entering a presidential election year with the opposite party controlling the White House, it has just a third of the $21.3 million the party had then in inflation-adjusted dollars.

“There’s significant anxiety,” said Oscar Brock, a committee member from Tennessee.

Party leaders are keenly aware of the financial picture and how it makes the voter-registration and turnout operation it will need next November more difficult. And while members point to a number of factors for the weak fundraising, one name comes up frequently: Donald Trump, the coup-attempting former president under whose leadership the party has had one bad election after another.

Henry Barbour, a longtime member from Mississippi, said the reasons for the poor fundraising are obvious: “2020, and then 2022” — and at the top of the list: “Trump.”