ven as talk in political circles has focused on the Trump campaign’s apparent reliance on the Republican National Committee for much of its basic voter mobilization effort in November, reports filed with the FEC over the weekend show the RNC having arguably the worst fundraising July in at least four presidential cycles.
The RNC reported receiving $27.2 million last month. This sounds like a reasonable total, but a look just below the surface shows it to be a big disappointment. Included among the $27 million figure was a $3.2 million refund from the Trump Make America Great Again super PAC, covering direct mail postage that the RNC had advanced the group in an earlier month. So those $3 million were actually raised months ago and while they can now be spent in the future, they don’t really count as “new revenue” for July.
The RNC total also includes $9.4 million in donations to three special accounts with limits on how the funds can be spent. These accounts are specifically intended to support the national convention, the RNC “building fund” for physical infrastructure, and a “recount” fund to pay legal expenses related to election challenges.
Removing these accounting adjustments and restricted funds leaves the RNC with less than $15 million in fully usable contributions received in July. The table below shows the breakdown of RNC receipts by category for each July from 2004 to 2016. In addition to across the board declines in sources of contributions compared to past presidential years, the RNC cash balance at the end of July was less than half of its comparable balance in the last three presidential campaigns.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/08/rnc-pulls-worst-fundraising-numbers-in-recent-years/
