Cash-strapped DNC takes on $15 million in loans

The Democratic National Committee took out $15 million in loans in October, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission submitted on Thursday.

The national party committee framed the line of credit as an early investment to boost its candidates in New Jersey and Virginia earlier this month, and help build up state parties ahead of next year’s midterms. But the need for a loan still puts the DNC in sharp contrast with its GOP counterpart, the Republican National Committee, which was sitting on $86 million at the end of September.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said the early investment was already helping the party win elections this month and position itself for what is to come.

“We can’t win elections or fight back against Trump if the D.N.C. downsizes operations like it often does after a presidential cycle,” Martin said in a statement. “I made a bet that investing early would build power, rack up wins and rally supporters back to the table. That bet is paying off.”

The loans were first reported by the New York Times.

The DNC also spent $16.9 million in October, the most it has spent in any single month this year. Driving that total was election-related spending: The national party spent over $6 million in New Jersey and Virginia to boost Democratic gubernatorial candidates, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in Pennsylvania to help retain control of the state’s Supreme Court.

Democrats won all those races.

The national party committee also continues to send roughly $1 million each month to state party committees, and has a larger staff than it did at this time in 2017. It reported $18.3 million cash on hand at the end of October.

The DNC has taken out loans before, although usually not this early in the cycle or of this magnitude all at once. In Trump’s first term, when the national party similarly faced fundraising lags, it reported $3.2 million in debt in November 2017 — this same time in the cycle — and more than $7 million a few months later, according to past FEC filings. The DNC has not reported more than $15 million in total debt since February 2014.

But the national party has faced slower fundraising this year as many major donors have stayed on the sidelines amid the DNC’s rebuilding efforts. The party’s fundraising numbers have improved slightly in recent months, and it raised $7.5 million from donors in October, not far off from the same month in 2021.

The party committee’s cash totals were also hit earlier in the year as it paid off $18 million in lingering expenses from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign.