The Democratic National Committee is announcing a huge nationwide local party investment, the fundraising boom surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign lifting Democratic organizing efforts across the country
The $2.5 million strategic investments, announced Friday, will deliver crucial cash flows to each state and territory in the U.S. and enable Democrats to contest down-ballot races and build crucial infrastructure for future races, according to the DNC.
“From the school board to the White House, the DNC is doing the work to elect Democrats to office at all levels of government,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement to Salon. “These dollars will go to reaching key constituencies, beefing up organizing operations, and giving our teams on the ground the tools they need to earn every vote in the final stretch before Election Day.”
Per the DNC, the investment is the first funding delivery into all 50 states and seven territories in a single cycle. The party says the investments will allow local organizers to achieve future wins.
Earlier this month, Harris’s campaign transferred an unprecedented $24.5 million in donations to down-ballot Democrats, a larger sum at an earlier moment than typical transfers, suggesting Democrats are much more willing to invest at every level this cycle.
The infusions will target red and blue states alike. In Idaho, the DNC is hoping a five-figure sum will help to build an organizing apparatus in tribal communities. In Minnesota, cash will help canvassers maintain the Democratic trifecta in that state. In Florida, a state where Democrats are polling much better than they in 2020, the party is spending over $400,000 to build infrastructure it says is crucial to reaching key coalitions.
“State parties are the backbone of the Democratic Party,” Ken Martin, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, said in a statement to Salon. “Today’s round of announced funding will flip seats from red to blue and will allow our state parties to out-message and out-organize for election cycles to come as we continue to fight for a New Way Forward for all Americans.”
Since President Joe Biden’s decision to leave the presidential race in July upended the race, Democrats have out-raised Republicans massively, with Harris nearly tripling Trump’s August fundraising numbers. That month, Harris pulled in over $300 million, pushing funds raised since she joined the race to over half a billion dollars.