A wave of major corporations announcing they would no longer donate to Republican candidates prompted numerous media outlets to write about the fiscal problems the GOP would soon face. All of the attention, however, seems to have led to a financial windfall for the party, whose Senate fund reportedly raised $8.3 million in January, largely thanks to small-dollar donations.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee released its fundraising data for January, boasting an $8.3 million haul – $6.8 million of which was raised after the Georgia runoffs.
“The Committee ended the first month of the 2022 cycle with $17.2 million cash on hand. By comparison, in January of 2019, the NRSC raised $5.5 million and had $7.6 million cash on hand,” the NRSC wrote in a press release.
The underlying numbers show the NRSC raised $4.24 million online from more than 85,000 donors – and an average donation of $32. The committee said it raised more than $100,000 online each day in January.
“The NRSC starts the 2022 cycle in a strong financial position,” said NRSC Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL). “Bolstered by our strength in low-dollar donations, the NRSC is well-equipped to get our message out, support our Republican candidates and fight in the trenches in states across the country. While we know the Democrats’ support for Socialism, higher taxes, more regulation, bigger government and cancel culture is bad for America, it’s certainly motivated patriotic Americans across the country to support the fight for freedom and opportunity.”
As The Federalist reported, the media “manufactured fears over the advertised withdrawal of donations from big-name corporations such as AT&T, Nike, Comcast, Dow, Marriott, Walmart, and Verizon” and wrote numerous articles about how the GOP would face a funding problem. The opposite appears to have happened.
Fears about lost corporate financing were overblown, the Federalist reported, because “Political action committees headed up by corporations can only donate a maximum of $5,000 annually, a minuscule number in the grand scheme of things.”
“In the 2019-2020 election cycle, corporate PACs only contributed less than 3 percent of GOP fundraising committee intake,” the outlet added. The outlet also reported:
In the Republican fundraising ecosystem, corporate PACs are becoming largely irrelevant, replaced by the energy and enthusiasm voters have for former President Donald Trump. Trump has converted the party into a broader base of support that has translated into much higher small-dollar donations from many more people, as the January NRSC receipts show.
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Small-dollar donations of less than $200 are now at least half of typical Republican campaign dollars. K Street is losing its grip on the Republican Party while consolidating its influence over Democrats. The fact is, many companies have been unclear and purposefully vague about pulling donations, and arguably were vocal after the Capitol breach to save face.
The corporations who claimed they would no longer donate also used phrases suggesting they weren’t really serious. Ford, for example, said it was simply suspending contributions “for now,” as did Charles Schwab. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America indicated they may reverse their decisions in the future. Several other corporations merely said they were “reviewing” donations.