Nearly a year out from the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats are facing a money problem, having only $15 million on hand compared to Republicans, who have $80 million.
After facing a crushing defeat in the 2024 presidential election, in which Democrats lost the presidency, the House, and the Senate to Republicans, the party appears to be struggling to find its footing and connecting with potential voters.
While some polling suggests Democrats have a small lead, thanks to some of President Donald Trump’s unpopular policies, such as tariffs and his harsh mass deportation plan, the Democratic National Committee does not appear to be enticing donors.
Federal Election Commission filings, submitted by the DNC and Republican National Committee at the end of June, show that the two parties have a $65 million gap.
It’s a significantly larger gap than the one the two parties had going into the 2022 midterms, when Democrats had $30 million on hand while Republicans had $14 million, or the 2024 presidential election, when Democrats had $22 million and Republicans had $38 million.
Major Democratic donors have reportedly withheld donations this past year as they have witnessed the party struggle to maintain cohesive messaging and fight against Trump’s extensive use of the executive branch, according to the Washington Post.
“I don’t think that the DNC has given Democrats good reasons to donate,” Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist, told the Post in July.
Only 47 donors gave the maximum contribution possible to the DNC in the first half of 2025, according to FEC filings. Over the same time period in 2021, more than 130 people gave the same amount.
Former DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale told Politico that the committee has raised twice the amount it raised at this point in 2017.
Since losing the election to Trump and Republicans, Democratic voters have expressed frustration with their party for failing to reach potential voters and not doing enough to combat Trump’s agenda.
In recent polling, one in three Democratic voters said they view the party as “weak” and “ineffective.”
Florida-based Democratic strategist Steve Schale told Politico that, “donors want some kind of reckoning.”
“But I also think that the kind of state party building that I think [DNC Chair Ken Martin] wants to do at the DNC is really vital to our success. And so I hope people kind of get over themselves pretty quick,” Schale added.
However, the significant gap in cash between the DNC and RNC could make it difficult for the DNC to rebrand.
Democrats are already facing an uphill battle, having to fight Trump’s aggressive agenda and slow down his agenda with fewer seats in Congress. It’s difficult to rely on judges to push back on rulings because the administration has targeted Democratic-appointed judges as “rogue” and partisan. Ultimately, the Supreme Court has final say in many cases, and with a predominantly Republican court, there’s no telling what polices the president will be able to implement.
Recently, Democratic-led states have been trying to come up with plans to counteract Trump’s desire to pick up more Republican seats by redrawing Texas’s congressional map. California Governor Gavin Newsom has pushed forward an effort to do the same in his state.
But while Republicans have Trump and members of his current administration to appeal to voters and request donations, Democrats have yet to find a leader to do the same.
However, not all hope is lost for the DNC. The committee similarly struggled to out raise or even catch up with the RNC leading up to the 2020 presidential election, which former president Joe Biden ultimately won.
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