Party Fundraising Growth Continues
| For Immediate Release September 19, 2002 |
Contact: | Bob Biersack Ron Harris Ian Stirton Kelly Huff |
|---|
| PARTY FUNDRAISING GROWTH CONTINUES | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WASHINGTON -- Political committees representing the two major political
parties have reported raising $412.1 million in federal (hard money) funds during the
first 18 months of the 2002 election cycle. In addition, national party committees
reported $308.2 million in nonfederal (soft money) receipts during the period from January
1, 2001 through June 30, 2002. Spending totaled $317.7 million in federal funds and $213.6
in nonfederal funds. These fundraising totals represent increases of 12% for federal funds and 21% for nonfederal funds when compared with a similar time period in 2000. The increases are all the more significant given that typically parties raise more in Presidential campaign cycles than in non-presidential campaigns. The largest increases were found among Republican party committees, whose federal receipts totaled $283.4 million, up 19% over 2000 levels. Soft money fundraising by Republican national committees reached $181.8 million, 40% more than those committees raised in 1999-2000. Democratic party committees raised slightly more soft money than in the 2000 Presidential cycle ($126.4 million, up 2%). Democratic hard money receipts declined 1% to $128.7 million. Among the national party committees, both parties’ senatorial campaign committees reported large increases in both hard and soft money. Soft money fundraising also increased sharply for the National Republican Congressional Committee while both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised less soft money in the first 18 months of this campaign than they had in the previous cycle. National parties will no longer be permitted to raise or spend soft money after November 5, 2002 as a result of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). Democratic committees reported soft money cash on hand of $49.1 million as of June 30 while their Republican counterparts reported a soft money cash balance of $57.1 million. Tables on the following pages show hard and soft money activity during similar 18 month periods from the last several election cycles, along with transfers of funds from the national parties to the states. Links to Tables in EXCEL (requires Microsoft Excel) format:
### |
||||||||||||||
