TO: Interested Parties
FR: DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena
DT: July 30, 2018
RE: 99 Days Out: Democratic Momentum Continues to Grow
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Democrats are on the path to take back the House thanks to a historic and diverse battlefield, well-funded candidates with records of service, a grassroots army breathing life into our work and a message that is personal for voters, focused on lowering the cost of healthcare and increasing wages.
HUGE HOUSE BATTLEFIELD THAT STRETCHES GOP THIN
The DCCC has successfully built the largest battlefield in over a decade. An unprecedented amount of Republican outside money and gerrymandered districts necessitated an aggressive strategy to make them fight for every inch. The DCCC used rigorous data analysis and a fresh set of eyes to look well beyond the suburbs and identify over 100 targeted districts, with as many days remaining until the election.
The historic number of open seats increases the pressure on Republicans who are already stretched thin. The DCCC helped spur these retirements by investing earlier than ever in local organizers and paid media campaigns to hold vulnerable Republicans accountable for their historically unpopular agenda. Our pressure campaign worked: there are over 40 Republican open seats, which will force tough Republican decisions about who to defend and who is a lost cause.
CANDIDATES WITH RECORDS OF SERVICE TO COUNTRY & COMMUNITY
Central to our path to victory is filling the House battlefield with strong candidates who have deep records of service to our country and community. Our candidates are the future of our party and include veterans, CIA operatives, small business owners, community leaders, healthcare advocates and prosecutors. These candidates have powerful personal stories and strong independent profiles that excite the grassroots and prevent Republicans from successfully putting them into ideological boxes. As we saw with Rep. Conor Lamb in PA-18 – voters just don’t believe the false attacks.
There are now fifty-nine candidates on our highly competitive and battle-tested Red to Blue list, compared to forty-eight Red to Blue candidates at this point last cycle. About half of the current Red to Blue candidates are women, the list is more diverse and younger than in previous cycles, and it will continue to grow.
HISTORIC CANDIDATE FUNDRAISING
Candidates and their records of service are our greatest asset. To share those stories directly with voters, Democratic candidates must have the resources to compete against an unprecedented onslaught of Republican outside money. Democratic candidates have two advantages on that front: grassroots enthusiasm and a lower price for purchasing television than SuperPACs.
To capitalize, the DCCC greatly expanded staff capacity to support campaigns, including adding a new digital strategist solely focused on helping candidates develop the online infrastructure to convert energy into small-dollar donations.
It’s working. In the second quarter of 2018, over seventy Democratic candidates out-raised their opponents. This includes fifty-six challengers outpacing incumbents in total raised, and in open seats, Democrats are dominating fundraising at even higher rates.
The DCCC has also continued record-breaking fundraising, outpacing the NRCC by $42.9 million through June of 2018. Perhaps most exciting is that the DCCC raised more than $65 million online through June 2018, a massive increase over the $37 million we raised online at the same point last cycle.
USING RESOURCES TO GET CLOSER TO VOTERS
The surge in grassroots energy and donations to the DCCC and campaigns has provided significant advantages that bring Democrats closer to the voter & closer to winning back the House.
- Immediately after Trump’s inauguration, we invested in local field organizers earlier than ever in more than 20 of our targeted races, which has grown into field operations already underway in 61
- More than 40 of these districts have both a digital organizer and a constituency organizer building specialized and localized programs focused on turning out African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and millennials.
- The DCCC opened its first ever DCCC West Coast Headquarters in Orange County, CA.
- Long-term, strategic investment in California’s primary, which gave the DCCC the tools to pitch a perfect game and have a Democrat on the ballot in all competitive districts– despite the complicated top-two system.
- In order to build a pipeline of campaign talent for House races, we created a brand new Training Department, which has already trained nearly 14,000 organizers and operatives in 25 cities and online.
- To increase our capacity across the huge House battlefield, we hired an Expansion Team of political, fundraising, communications and digital specialists focused on making races viable deeper into the map.
- To better reflect and communicate with the voters that we need to win, the DCCC is historically diverse. A majority of senior staff (52%) are diverse.
- The DCCC Independent Expenditure is more diverse and modern, led by the Committee’s first female IE Director. To speak to voters where they are, the DCCC built a large, in-house digital team for the first time, which will increase investment in digital and strengthen strategy and ad creative.
DEMOCRATS HAVE WINNING MESSAGE
The primaries have produced battle-tested candidates who best fit their districts and can win in November. Ninety-three percent of the DCCC’s Red to Blue candidates won their primaries and have entered the general elections with a head of steam and a winning message.
Republicans are stuck on defense, relying on a stale and failed playbook that ignores the issues that actually affect people’s lives. Republicans squandered their opportunity at full control of government by immediately launching into an assault on people’s healthcare, quickly followed by the GOP tax scam that puts the middle class last. Republicans have laid their priorities bare over the last year and a half, and vulnerable Republicans attempting to save their imperiled careers face an electorate that simply does not trust them on the issues that matter.
In contrast, Democrats are running on a message that is personal to voters, focused on lower healthcare and prescription drug costs and higher wages that keep up with the cost of living. Democrats are proactively defining the tax scam as a handout to the wealthy and largest corporations to be funded by cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Democrats are talking about comprehensive immigration reform and commonsense gun safety. Democrats are united behind a message that is energizing the base and resonating with independents.
Onward to November!