The Republicans’ dream of gaining House seats this year may vanish due to money woes. Politico reports that the financial arm for GOP House campaigns, the National Republican Congressional Committee, has raised less than a third as much money as its Democratic counterpart and scarcely has enough money to fund one House race.
In a year many political analysts agree Republicans stand to gain a large number of seats, this could be bad news indeed. More than 100 House seats are up for grabs in November in districts considered competitive, and 70 of those are currently held by Democrats.
While it’s unlikely the GOP will gain the 40 seats needed to win back control of the House, Crystal Ball, a leading political predictive website run by the University of Virginia’s Center For Politics, predicts they will pick up at least 20-30 in the mid term elections. But reality could fall far short of those predictions if Republicans can’t fund the necessary campaigns.
In 2009, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised the NRCC by more than $18 million, ending the year with $15.3 million in its coffers with $2.6 million in debt. The NRCC treasury pales in comparison with only $4.3 million in its campaign account and more than $2 million in debt. This disparity could cripple GOP efforts to aggressively battle for seats.
One reason for the shortfall is GOP members themselves not contributing at all or chipping in smaller amounts. Of the 177 House Republicans, just 75 have donated to the committee in the past three months; most of those represent districts considered safe. Their average donation was $28,000, and only 11 members contributed $50,000 or more.
By comparison, 90 members of the DCCC filled its coffers with almost $4 million with 35 House Democrats chipping in $50,000 or more during the same time period.
While funding may be a concern, Republicans get an “A” for effort on the recruiting end. They have drawn accolades for challenging incumbents with top-notch recruits both in districts considered safe and competitive. They are also eyeing open seats vacated by retiring Democrats. As more Democrats announce their retirement seemingly almost daily, seats are opening that were once considered unwinnable by Republicans since House incumbents are reelected almost 95 percent of the time.
Politically speaking, this should be an exciting year to watch. Baring any major GOP scandals, the mid term elections will no doubt send a message that the American people aren’t happy with President Obama. The funding shortfall could pose a real problem as Republicans won’t have the resources to refute the misinformation propagated against them, but maybe they will gain at least enough power to stop this unrestrained spending train before it rolls right off the track.
