The Democratic National Committee racked up two of its biggest grassroots fundraising months in a midterm cycle this summer, bringing in more than $14 million combined in July and August.
The grassroots totals surpassed what the DNC hit in those two months in 2018, the midterm cycle during President Donald Trump’s first term, according to data the committee shared first with The Washington Sun. The committee also hit 1 million unique individual donors for the cycle this summer, a traditionally sleepy time for fundraising.
The surge got some help from several potential 2028 presidential candidates who lent their fundraising muscle to the party committee’s efforts, a DNC official said, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, another potential 2028 candidate, helped to raise $640,000 through a contest to win a trip to Washington, D.C., and tour the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum with him.
But the DNC’s strength with small-dollar donors doesn’t close the gaping hole in the party committee’s bank account, especially when compared to the Republican National Committee. As of July, the DNC had $16 million in cash on hand, but $18 million in debts. The RNC ended July with more than $130 million in cash.
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Both committees will file their full financial fundraising disclosures for August with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday.
The DNC has faced months of bad headlines, including its financial woes and its botched 2024 election autopsy. DNC Chair Ken Martin, who has endured a rocky tenure atop the committee, indicated to allies last month he was open to overhauling how the DNC raised money, including bringing in more fundraising talent.
“I’d rather not be in the red, but if you look at ActBlue versus WinRed totals, you wouldn’t come away thinking Democrats are underfunded,” said Kenneth Pennington, a Democratic digital fundraising consultant, referring to the small-dollar donation platforms affiliated with the Democratic and Republican Party respectively. “When you look at the spending advantages on the hard side that Democrats have, they’re sizable. Where we’re falling behind is on some of the soft side stuff, party support stuff, that has historically been driven by big donors.”
Pennington also said that the DNC’s grassroots fundraising is a sign of voter enthusiasm that will translate into votes come November, just as it did in 2018. That confidence is born out in public and private polling, where Democrats regularly hold an intensity advantage. Republicans are anxiously eying Democrats’ voter turnout surge throughout the 2026 primary season as another indicator for that enthusiasm edge.
“I’m feeling good about our party’s base, that’s motivated, donating $20 by huge numbers of people, rather than the party that’s raising money by Elon Musk cutting one check,” he added.
So far, the DNC has raised nearly $16 million more from small-dollar donors at this point in the cycle than it did in 2018, $52.3 million to $36.6 million, when Democrats netted 40 congressional seats.
“While Republicans rely on billionaire donors to try and bail them out from their unpopular policies and tanking approval ratings, Democrats are powered by grassroots donors,” Martin said in a statement shared with The Sun. “It’s clear they are fired up heading into the midterms.”
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