Latest news with #RepublicanNationalCommittee
CNBC
12 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Republican Party has nearly five times more cash on hand than the Democrats
The Republican National Committee has almost five times the cash on hand as its Democratic counterpart, as Democrats seek to regain their footing following a disappointing 2024 cycle. The RNC reported having $72 million on hand at the end of May, compared to just $15 million for the DNC, according to campaign filings out Friday. While the RNC has for months held a cash advantage over the Democratic National Committee, the $57 million gap is the widest disparity between the two parties since at least July 2020, according to California Target Book's Rob Pyers. It's still early, but the GOP's cash edge could give the party an early boost as it looks to build out campaign infrastructure ahead of next year's midterms. "The single most important thing the DNC can and should be doing right now is raising money," Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod told CNBC. The filings come as the DNC has faced internal tension since President Donald Trump's return to the White House. Earlier this month, leaders of two large labor unions each declined their nominations to continue serving on the committee, dealing a blow to Chair Ken Martin. Martin has also overseen internal divisions over ex-DNC Vice Chair David Hogg's bid to challenge sitting Democratic incumbents. Hogg stepped down from his role earlier this month amid backlash. Some Democrats say that the fundraising gap underscores deeper concerns within the party. "The base of the party and donors alike do not have confidence in the direction of the party," said Cooper Teboe, a Democratic strategist in Silicon Valley. Teboe said that the party has not presented "a positive, inspiring vision." The DNC, however, points to a surge in grassroots support. The party says it raised roughly $40 million in individual donations since Martin became chair in February, a record for that four-month period. The contributions go to a range of areas, according to the DNC, including "building up critical infrastructure from tech to organizing to in-state investments for critical, target races." "This is only the start, but it's a record-setting start that allows Democrats to meaningfully invest in every part of the country," Martin said in a statement. The DNC's war chest is roughly double what it held during the same period in 2017, suggesting there is time for them to catch up. "The goals Chair Martin has set out — investing in all 50 states and building the state of-the-art infrastructure necessary to win back the White House in 2028 — are ambitious and necessary, but they can only be achieved by raising money," Elrod said. Looking ahead, Teboe said that Democrats may be successful in next year's midterms "as a reaction to Trump's overreach but it will take a new generation of voices to get the party out of this mess." "Those voices will emerge in the 2028 primary and we will have the chance to rebuild a stronger Democratic Party outside of the influence of the old guard that seems incapable of understanding what motivates normal Americans," he said. The Republicans' money advantage comes after a 2024 election cycle during which Tesla founder Elon Musk poured nearly $300 million into helping elect Republicans. Musk's surge of donations to help elect Trump certainly took some pressure off the rest of the party's fundraising apparatus. It's unclear what the RNC might have decided to pay for last year's elections, were it not for Musk's millions. Musk last month said that he was going to do "a lot less" political spending in the future. It's also unclear how Trump will use the millions he has raised in a group of PACs since he won the November election. Should Trump choose to donate to Republican candidates and get out the vote efforts next year, the RNC could again find itself under less pressure to shell out cash than the DNC. But Trump's financial support has traditionally not been geared towards helping the party at large. Rather, Trump has contributed relatively small amounts to help elect his closest allies. He has also played a significant role in Republican primary races, endorsing MAGA candidates who, in some cases, have struggled to win the backing of moderate Republicans and independent voters.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michael Steele Slams Trump, Mike Lee With Damning Questions About Minnesota Remarks
MSNBC host Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee, excoriated President Donald Trump and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday over their 'astounding' insensitivity following the assassination of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband over the weekend. 'It just is astounding to me, the level of immaturity, insensitivity and lack of empathy between Senator Lee and, of course, President Trump, who said, 'I don't need to talk to … [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz], he's a mess,'' Steele said on 'The Weeknight.' 'Who do these people represent?' he added. 'Is this who we are in this country now?' When reporters asked the president Tuesday if he had called Walz yet to discuss the incident, he said the Democrat is 'slick' and 'whacked out.' Trump, who vowed last year to be president 'for all of America, not half of America,' then plainly refused. 'I'm not calling him,' he said aboard Air Force One. The Hortmans were fatally shot early Saturday at their Minnesota home by a gunman impersonating a police officer. Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, were also shot multiple times at their home. The latter couple has since undergone surgery. A suspect wanted in the attack was later identified as 57-year-old Vance Boelter and was arrested Sunday after a manhunt. Lee had shared several social media posts in the meantime, baselessly suggesting Boelter was into 'Marxism' and part of the political left. 'Is this what we do?' Steele asked Tuesday about Lee's and Trump's comments. 'We've gone through 9/11. We've gone through COVID. We've gone through trials and tribulations as a country. We've watched individuals suffer, and we've rallied to them in the past.' Lee had also shared an image of the suspect at a victim's door, writing: 'Nightmare on Waltz Street.' Boelter was appointed in 2019 by Walz's office to the Governor's Workforce Development Board, but was also an apparent conservative who attended Trump rallies. 'I don't understand what this says now,' Steele said during Tuesday's discussion. 'What are we saying about ourselves, when our leaders — a United States senator and a president of the United States — act like a damn 2-year-old?' Steele went on to wager that the Republicans in question are plain 'insensitive, just not realizing what their words mean and the impact that they're having,' and 'really don't seem to care.' One of his co-hosts went even further with Steele's prior point about immaturity. 'I think there are some 2-year-olds that actually have more decency than the president of the United States and the senator from Utah have exhibited in this moment,' said Symone Sanders Townsend. Lee has since deleted many of the social media posts. Tina Smith's Face-To-Face With 'Shocked' Mike Lee Is A Proven Way To Confront A Bully Sen. Mike Lee Backtracks After Deranged Tweets About Minnesota Assassination 'What The F**k Is Wrong With That Guy?': Jon Stewart Shames Senator For 'Depravity'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sen. Mike Lee Backtracks After Deranged Tweets About Minnesota Assassination
WASHINGTON ― Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday deleted a series of disgusting tweets he posted in response to a gunman assassinating Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Lee posted several tweets from his personal account on Saturday, baselessly claiming that the man who went to the homes of four Minnesota state lawmakers with the intent to kill them has ties to the political left. 'This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way,' the Utah Republican wrote in his first tweet, as details were still emerging on what had even happened. 'Nightmare on Waltz Street,' Lee wrote in his second now-deleted tweet, an apparent and misspelled reference to Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who was Kamala Harris' vice presidential running mate last year. His third now-deleted tweet called Marxism a 'deadly mental illness' in response to the Minnesota shootings. Lee drew widespread condemnation for his posts, including former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele telling him to 'grow the hell up' and one Utah PAC calling on Lee to resign over his 'sick' and 'depraved' comments. It was initially unclear what drove Lee to delete his posts three days later. They were still up as of early Tuesday afternoon, and a Lee spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But the Utah Republican later told a Capitol Hill reporter that he deleted his posts after speaking with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). 'It was important to her that I take it down,' Lee told journalist Matt Laslo. 'We're good friends. I took it down.' Asked about their talk, a Klobuchar spokesperson said only, 'They had a good conversation this morning and she is glad he took them down.' Lee didn't delete a handful of other inflammatory social media posts that either implicitly or explicitly reference the Minnesota shooting. 'Fact check: TRUE,' he posted Monday on his personal X account, in response to an Elon Musk tweet falsely claiming, 'The far left is murderously violent.' 'Marxism kills,' Lee said in another Monday tweet, in response to someone falsely claiming 'the left … kills a MN state rep and her husband and injures a Senator and his wife.' On Saturday, the same day the lawmaker and her husband were assassinated at home, Lee had this to say in response to someone posting about the FBI reviewing the gunman's cellphone records: 'My guess: He's not MAGA.' Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) pulled Lee out of a Senate Republican-only meeting on Monday night to talk to him about how 'cruel' and 'hurtful' his comments were. Beyond the horror of the situation, Smith was also friends with Hortman. She told HuffPost earlier Tuesday, when Lee's posts were still up, that the Utah Republican was 'sort of shocked' when she pulled him aside to address his posts. 'The point here is that there are consequences to the things that you do in the social media world, as a U.S. senator, and he has a big megaphone,' Smith said. 'He's choosing to use it to spread misinformation and to hurt people.' Minnesota authorities captured the suspect, Vance Boelter, 57, on Sunday night. They said he had a 'hit list' of 45 elected officials, all of whom were Democrats. Smith was among those on the list. Asked Tuesday if Lee apologized to her for his posts, Smith replied, 'Not really.' Sen. Tina Smith Confronts Sen. Mike Lee Over His Appalling Minnesota Posts Here's What We Know About The Minnesota Shooting Suspect's List Of Names Minnesota Assassination Suspect Stopped At 4 Democratic Politicians' Homes
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LA Riots Hand Republicans Script for Midterms
The masked man on the motorcycle, the one who waved a Mexican flag in front of a torched car as Los Angeles police stood by, will soon be famous. His identity remains unknown, his image iconic - but for all the wrong reasons. Republicans will replay the clip again and again in campaign ads ahead of the midterms. "This lawlessness is exactly what Americans rejected in 2024," said Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "While Democrats sow chaos, Republicans stand as the party of law and order." President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration, Whatley told RealClearPolitics, and ahead of the midterms, his party "will continue to run on this winning message and finish the job for the American people." As National Guard were being deployed to quell violence in California, Republicans were mobilizing to capture and catalog video of looting, rioting, and violence. One RNC official told RCP they were struggling to capture the flood of content coming across cable news. "It was just non-stop," they said. "There was so much." That content from the LA riots will soon provide fodder for the contrast Republicans hope to paint in November of next year, illustrating the failed immigration policies they allege California Gov. Gavin Newsom now embodies. For his part, Newsom blames Trump for inflaming an already "combustible situation." Los Angeles became ground zero for the Trump administrations immigration crackdown Saturday when ICE agents launched a series of raids across the city. Protests followed. Some of the demonstrations have been peaceful. The ones getting wall-to-wall news coverage, however, were not. Demonstrators hurled rocks, firework shells, and Molotov cocktails at police. Vandalism and looting ensued, prompting Trump to order 2,000 National Guardsmen to the city without the approval of the California governor. Newsom quickly condemned the move as a "blatant abuse of power" that puts the nation on a path to authoritarianism. "Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles," Newsom said in a speech delivered from an LA studio Tuesday, as the city remains under a curfew ordered by Mayor Karen Bass. "Well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses." "California may be first, but it clearly wont end here," the governor said. "Other states are next. Democracy is next." The White House already saw the riots as an opportunity to paint Democrats as hapless in the face of lawlessness. After the governors speech, they were overjoyed to have that fight with Newsom. "Democrats are not even choosing the 20 on 80-20 issues," a White House official told RCP. "Theyre choosing the 10 on 90-10 issues." The situation in Los Angeles could be perilous for Democrats. Newsom has tried to differentiate a violent mob from lawful demonstrators, warning on social media that those "who take advantage of Trumps chaos" will be held accountable, while encouraging those who are "protesting peacefully." The White House, meanwhile, sees nothing but anarchy and is considering invoking the Insurrection Act, a law that grants the president authority to deploy the military on U.S. soil. Asked if he was considering it, Trump told RCP Tuesday in the Oval Office, "We will see." Republicans are betting that voters have already made up their minds. "AI couldnt generate better imagery," said Jesse Hunt, a GOP strategist and former communications director at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign. Trump won the general election, in large part, in reaction to the lax immigration policies of the Biden administration, Hunt told RCP, and the mob violence in LA will capture voter attention ahead of the midterms. "It paints a real picture of which side voters can choose to be on," he said, "public servants enforcing U.S. law in an American city or a violent mob waving another countrys flag." The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has already cut a digital spot that will serve as a template for the midterms. Posted on social media Tuesday, the video splices together clips of rock-hurling rioters in the smoke-filled streets of LA with soundbites from Democrats defending the demonstrations as "mostly peaceful protests." The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson and the largest spender in House campaigns, has already argued this week that the riots roiling Los Angeles will continue to spread to other cities. When confronted with that chaos, the group predicted, "Americans will vote accordingly." A new survey commissioned by CLF, obtained by RCP, and conducted by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, provides the reasoning for their confidence. The polling of key congressional districts found that on illegal immigration and deportations, 57% favor "hiring nearly 40,000 additional ICE and border patrol agents to address illegal immigration as well as drug and human trafficking." The Republican survey also showed 68% of voters favor funding for the military to support law enforcement "in their fight against drug cartels." The Trump administration remains convinced that the public is on their side. "They are incredibly out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans support," a White House official said of Democrats, telling RCP, "We are going on offense and backing them into the corner of supporting dangerous criminal illegal aliens, violent rioters, and lawless chaos." Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent. & Philip Wegmann is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LA Riots Hand Republicans Script for Midterms
The masked man on the motorcycle, the one who waved a Mexican flag in front of a torched car as Los Angeles police stood by, will soon be famous. His identity remains unknown, his image iconic - but for all the wrong reasons. Republicans will replay the clip again and again in campaign ads ahead of the midterms. "This lawlessness is exactly what Americans rejected in 2024," said Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "While Democrats sow chaos, Republicans stand as the party of law and order." President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration, Whatley told RealClearPolitics, and ahead of the midterms, his party "will continue to run on this winning message and finish the job for the American people." As National Guard were being deployed to quell violence in California, Republicans were mobilizing to capture and catalog video of looting, rioting, and violence. One RNC official told RCP they were struggling to capture the flood of content coming across cable news. "It was just non-stop," they said. "There was so much." That content from the LA riots will soon provide fodder for the contrast Republicans hope to paint in November of next year, illustrating the failed immigration policies they allege California Gov. Gavin Newsom now embodies. For his part, Newsom blames Trump for inflaming an already "combustible situation." Los Angeles became ground zero for the Trump administrations immigration crackdown Saturday when ICE agents launched a series of raids across the city. Protests followed. Some of the demonstrations have been peaceful. The ones getting wall-to-wall news coverage, however, were not. Demonstrators hurled rocks, firework shells, and Molotov cocktails at police. Vandalism and looting ensued, prompting Trump to order 2,000 National Guardsmen to the city without the approval of the California governor. Newsom quickly condemned the move as a "blatant abuse of power" that puts the nation on a path to authoritarianism. "Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles," Newsom said in a speech delivered from an LA studio Tuesday, as the city remains under a curfew ordered by Mayor Karen Bass. "Well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses." "California may be first, but it clearly wont end here," the governor said. "Other states are next. Democracy is next." The White House already saw the riots as an opportunity to paint Democrats as hapless in the face of lawlessness. After the governors speech, they were overjoyed to have that fight with Newsom. "Democrats are not even choosing the 20 on 80-20 issues," a White House official told RCP. "Theyre choosing the 10 on 90-10 issues." The situation in Los Angeles could be perilous for Democrats. Newsom has tried to differentiate a violent mob from lawful demonstrators, warning on social media that those "who take advantage of Trumps chaos" will be held accountable, while encouraging those who are "protesting peacefully." The White House, meanwhile, sees nothing but anarchy and is considering invoking the Insurrection Act, a law that grants the president authority to deploy the military on U.S. soil. Asked if he was considering it, Trump told RCP Tuesday in the Oval Office, "We will see." Republicans are betting that voters have already made up their minds. "AI couldnt generate better imagery," said Jesse Hunt, a GOP strategist and former communications director at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign. Trump won the general election, in large part, in reaction to the lax immigration policies of the Biden administration, Hunt told RCP, and the mob violence in LA will capture voter attention ahead of the midterms. "It paints a real picture of which side voters can choose to be on," he said, "public servants enforcing U.S. law in an American city or a violent mob waving another countrys flag." The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has already cut a digital spot that will serve as a template for the midterms. Posted on social media Tuesday, the video splices together clips of rock-hurling rioters in the smoke-filled streets of LA with soundbites from Democrats defending the demonstrations as "mostly peaceful protests." The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson and the largest spender in House campaigns, has already argued this week that the riots roiling Los Angeles will continue to spread to other cities. When confronted with that chaos, the group predicted, "Americans will vote accordingly." A new survey commissioned by CLF, obtained by RCP, and conducted by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, provides the reasoning for their confidence. The polling of key congressional districts found that on illegal immigration and deportations, 57% favor "hiring nearly 40,000 additional ICE and border patrol agents to address illegal immigration as well as drug and human trafficking." The Republican survey also showed 68% of voters favor funding for the military to support law enforcement "in their fight against drug cartels." The Trump administration remains convinced that the public is on their side. "They are incredibly out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans support," a White House official said of Democrats, telling RCP, "We are going on offense and backing them into the corner of supporting dangerous criminal illegal aliens, violent rioters, and lawless chaos." Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent. & Philip Wegmann is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics.
