For the Democratic National Committee, September was an exceptionally strong fundraising month — the best of the year, in fact.
Struggling with debt since the 2012 election, the DNC raised $7.38 million in September, with $5.5 cash-on-hand, reports Byron Tau in Politico. That beats the previous record of $6.3 million taken in April.
In addition, the committee will invest more than $1 million into the final weeks of Terry McAuliffe’s Virginia gubernatorial race. The DNC made two $500,000 contributions to the Virginia Democratic Party supporting McAuliffe — one each in September and October— as well as other in kind and staff support.
With access to President Barack Obama’s widespread email list, the McAuliffe campaign targeted Republican opponent Ken Cuccinelli in a nationwide email blast, painting him as someone out of touch with reality.
“Ken Cuccinelli took legal action against one of the country’s best universities (which happened to be his OWN client) because he disagreed with a study on climate change research. He’s one of those people who still doesn’t believe in global warming,” the DNC email said, sent under former President Bill Clinton’s name. “Oh, and he was the first person in the United States to sue the federal government to overturn the Affordable Care Act.”
By the end of 2012, writes Politico, the DNC accrued debt of more than $21 million; fundraising was at its lowest since at least 2003.
