Campaign

DNC takes out $10 million credit line

by Reid Wilson - 06/12/19 10:03 AM ET

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has taken out a $10 million line of credit as it ramps up for the 2020 presidential election.

The DNC said it had increased its existing line of credit in a hand-delivered filing two weeks ago with the Federal Election Commission. The initial line of credit, for $5 million, was taken out in early April.

{mosads}A source familiar with the DNC’s finances said the expanded line of credit is meant to allow the party to make early investments in infrastructure ahead of the 2020 elections. The goal, the source said, is to hand off a strong organization to the eventual Democratic presidential nominee once he or she is selected next year.

The source said the DNC’s major donor program has already eclipsed the total raised from big donors in 2015, the equivalent point in the previous presidential election cycle.

DNC chairman Tom Perez was in Atlanta on Tuesday, where he joined volunteers for the committee’s Organizing Corps 2020, which the DNC has sunk millions into. The DNC said the group aims to have hundreds of field organizers ready in battleground states in 2020.

The DNC has struggled to raise money in recent years, and it is routinely lapped by its Republican counterpart. Through the end of April, the DNC reported having raised almost $19 million this year, less than half the $45.6 million in contributions the Republican National Committee (RNC) has received.

The RNC reported no debt at the end of April and $34.7 million in the bank. The DNC had $7.6 million in cash, and $6.2 million in debt.

About three quarters of that debt, $4.5 million, is owed to New York-based Amalgamated Bank, through the line of credit. The DNC also owes $1.7 million to other creditors including a $900,000 bill to its law firm, Perkins Coie, and $412,000 in credit card processing fees owed to American Express.

The RNC has outraised the DNC in recent years. In the 2018 cycle, the Republican committee raised and spent about $325 million, while the Democratic committee raised and spent about $176 million, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. The DNC actually outraised and outspent the RNC in the 2016 cycle, though the RNC spent more in 2012 and 2014.

By contrast, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee regularly outraise their Republican counterparts.

Tags 2000 presidential election 2020 campaign Democratic National Committee DNC Tom Perez