Party committees report slight increase in 2009 receipts

The national, state and local committees of the Republican and Democratic parties collected a total of $425.8 million in contributions in the first calendar year of the 2010 election cycle, an increase of 1.5 percent over the same period in the 2008 election cycle, according to reports filed with the Commission. Republican party committees reported raising $206.2 million in federal funds in 2009, down less than 1 percent from the $208.3 million they raised in 2007. Their Democratic counterparts reported raising $219.5 million—4 percent more than the $211.3 million they raised during the same period in the last cycle.

National committees of the major parties are required to submit financial reports on a monthly basis. As a result, it is possible to compare their activity over a 13-month period from January 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010. During this period, the three national committees of the Democratic party—the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) —reported raising a total of nearly $202 million. This represents an increase of 6 percent over the same period in 2007-2008 and 33 percent over the first 13 months of the 2006 election cycle. The three Republican national party committees—the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) —reported raising a combined $188.7 million during the same period. This represents an increase of over 1 percent from 2007-2008 and a decrease of more than 17 percent from 2005-2006.

The DSCC and DCCC each reported a decrease in their total receipts compared to the same 13-month period in prior cycles, while the DNC reported an increase. The DSCC and DCCC reported a total of $48.7 and $60.3 million in receipts—a drop of 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively, from the last cycle. The DNC raised nearly $93 million through January 31, 2010, representing a 54 percent increase in receipts from the same period in 2007-2008 and a 52 percent increase from that period in 2005-2006.

Of the six national party committees, the RNC raised the most, disclosing $101.7 million in receipts, an increase of over 4 percent from its 13-month total in 2007-2008, but a decrease of almost 15 percent from its 2005-2006 total for the same period. The NRSC saw its receipts increase by 31 percent over its 2007-2008 period total, disclosing $46.3 million in receipts. The NRCC reported receiving $40.7 million, a decrease of almost 24 percent from the amount raised for the same 13-month period in the last cycle. The full text of the Commission’s press release on party committee fundraising in 2009 is available at http://www.fec.gov/press/press2010/20100309Party.shtml.