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House Dems Smash Fundraising Records Ahead of Midterms

House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year.
Image: Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. responds to questions about President Donald Trump's actions and agenda during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 25, 2017.J. Scott Applewhite / AP

House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official told NBC News.

The unusual fundraising haul is the latest sign that President Donald Trump is motivating Democrats in extraordinary ways as the party looks to win back the 24 seats it needs to retake the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections and put Rep. Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker's chair.

The DCCC raised $20 million in online contributions since the start of the year from contributions averaging just $18, according to the group, beating the $19.7 million the committee raised during 2015, the last off-year ahead of an election year.

The campaign arm of House Democrats said more than 2.2 million people joined the committee's grassroots email lists since the beginning of January, including 156,00 new donors.

“The DCCC is actively building the largest battleground in a decade, and that’s a testament to the grassroots energy that we’re witnessing every day, in every corner of America,” said DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law. “Our record smashing grassroots, online fundraising haul is further evidence that House Democrats are on offense while Republicans are in a full meltdown.”

The DCCC is known for its apocalyptic email fundraising solicitations, but they seem to be working. Even as their Republican counterparts generally outraise Democrats overall, House Republicans have had less success with small-dollar online contributions.

The Na­tion­al Re­pub­lic­an Con­gres­sion­al Com­mit­tee has been working to improve that, and touted breaking their own 2015 record in the first months of 2017 — but the haul­ was only $1.7 mil­lion, according to the National Journal.

Trump has been a windfall for groups and individuals seen as fighting his agenda, from the American Civil Liberties Union to Georgia Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff, who is on track to shatter some all-time fundraising record.

For instance, when the House voted in favor of the GOP bill repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier this month, the liberal blog Daily Kos raised more money in 5 hours than they had for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in an entire year, the group’s political director, David Nir, told NBC News.