Major Parties 18-Month Fundraising Figures Summarized
For Immediate Release: Contact: Ian Stirton
September 27, 2000 Ron Harris
Sharon Snyder
Kelly Huff
MAJOR PARTIES 18-MONTH FUNDRAISING FIGURES SUMMARIZED
WASHINGTON - Disclosure reports covering financial activity from January 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000, show that the federal accounts of Republican party committees raised $245.7 million, spent $193 million and had cash-on-hand of $65.3 million. Democratic committees raised $143.6 million, spent $105.5 million and ended with cash-on-hand of $40.4 million.
The Republican totals reflect a 27% gain when compared to the same period in the 1997-98 cycle, while the Democrats increased fundraising by 33%. However, when compared to the same period in the previous presidential election cycle of 1995-96, Democrats showed a decrease of approximately 2%, while Republicans showed a slight gain of nearly 1%.
Both political parties continued to show sizable increases in fundraising for their congressional campaign committees, with Democrats raising $25.6 million and Republicans $56.7 million. This represented a 61% increase for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when compared to the same period in 1997-98 and 57% when compared to 1995-96. For the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, the increase was 33% over 1997-98 cycle and 14% over 1995-96.
Democratic party committees contributed $1.5 million to federal candidates and spent $529,653 in coordinated expenditures on behalf of candidates for the first 18 months of the 2000 cycle. Republican party committees contributed $1.4 million directly to federal candidates and spent $446,874 in coordinated party expenditures during the same period.
Record amounts of nonfederal or "soft money" continue to be raised by both political parties. Republicans raised $130.2 million, an 81% increase over the same period in 1997-98 and 65% over 1995-96. Democrats collected $124.2 million, a 134% increase over 1997-98 and 77% more than 1995-96. Both parties ended the period with large cash reserves in their "soft money" accounts. Republicans reported cash-on-hand of $52.2 million, while the Democrats had $58.1 million.
Charts attached to this release provide 18-month summary data for the Republican and Democratic party committees for the current election cycle and five previous election cycles. Comparable data on nonfederal party activity are available back to the 1991-92 cycle when the FEC began requiring national party committees to disclose their nonfederal accounts.
This release and the data contained in it are also available on the FEC’s web page at http://www.fec.gov under News Releases or Campaign Finance Reports and Data.
*"Soft money" describes funds raised outside the limitations and prohibitions of the Federal Election Campaign Act. Soft money must be deposited in separate nonfederal accounts and cannot be used in connection with federal elections. To enhance public disclosure, the FEC requires national political party committees to report the sources of receipts to all nonfederal accounts.