memo: Don’t Be Fooled by False Spending Spin by Democrats & Media
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: RSLC President Dee Duncan
DATE: September 21, 2022
RE: Don’t Be Fooled by False Spending Spin by Democrats & Media
It’s that time of the cycle again. The Democrats know their only path to victory is to distract from their toxic socialist agenda by drastically outspending us in state legislative races. That is why they are relentlessly sending out smoke signals in the press to their liberal billionaire donors to come to their rescue during the closing weeks of the campaign. They are doing so by deploying their allies in the corporate media to spin the false narrative that Democrats are being outspent by Republicans in state races. You might have read some of this nonsensical coverage lately:
Associated Press: “The fundraising disparity is nothing new between Democratic groups working for state candidates and those focusing on national issues.”
Politico: “Though they’ve made strides in recent years, Democrats have often fall behind Republicans in spending on state legislative races”
Politico: “While Democratic candidates in top U.S. House and Senate races are flush with cash in the run-up to November, a number of those running for key state legislative and statewide posts aren’t nearly as well-heeled.”
Washington Post: “Democrats are voicing dissatisfaction with party leaders for not elevating local races more aggressively and not directing more financial resources to the contests.”
Daily Beast: “While the DNC has already handed the party’s House and Senate committees $15 million in total this year, the DLCC was left to fend for itself.”
Don’t be fooled. These stories are an attempt by the Democrats to not only fire up their own donor base, but to lull our partners into complacency when it matters. The truth is we have been outspent in every recent election cycle and we know full-well that we will be again this year.
CURRENT TV SPENDING
While Democrats cry out for more resources, they are dominating the television spending at this point in the campaign. In Michigan, Democrats have spent and booked nearly six times more than Republicans in state legislative races since the August 2 primary. In Colorado, Democrats have spent and booked nearly four times more than Republicans since the June 28 primary.
A SCARY LESSON FROM THE PAST
The current television spending disparity we are facing in some of our target states is concerning, but a look back at 2020 provides an even more alarming picture of what is to come. In 2020, national Democrat outside groups alone spent over $167 million on state legislative races.
(And this is just the outside spending we were able to track)
This same constellation of national liberal outside groups have combined to spend just over nine million dollars this cycle to date. That means that – just like in 2020 – we can expect a surge in spending from them during late September and early October. We can already be certain where some of this money will come from, as the DLCC, the States Project, and Forward Majority have pledged to spend more than $70 million combined on state legislative races in the 2022 cycle.
WE CAN’T COUNT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
After the stunning upset we pulled off in Virginia in 2021, you might remember how we warned in our post-mortem memo against counting on the environment alone to carry us to victory. We detailed how being outspent 2:1 almost nearly prevented us from taking advantage of a year where the issues broke our way perfectly and that we would not be as lucky in 2022.
What should concern all of us is that the political environment has changed significantly in recent months and now looks a lot more like 2020 than 2021. This will make it even harder for us to overcome the vast spending disparity we expect to face down the stretch. If we don’t continue our record-breaking fundraising in the coming weeks, the imminent national liberal money dump could knock us out of the game in a number of states where we are currently competing.
CONCLUSION
Don’t believe the false narrative Democrats and their allies in the media are trying to sell you. We haven’t outspent Democrats in recent election cycles in state legislative races, we aren’t doing so now, and we certainly will not have when it is all said and done in November. The fundraising comparisons between the RSLC and DLCC that so many in the media are now making to carry the Democrats’ water are useless. The Democrats have far more national outside spending organizations that play in state legislative races and our job is to fight back against all of them. We don’t have the luxury of relying on reinforcements to come save us. We are the calvary.
The good news is that we have proven we can still prevail if we keep the spending disparity in state races reasonable. We have the benefit of fantastic candidates with the right vision for the future of the country and know how to run innovative, data-driven campaigns that will make your investment go further.
We understand the challenges ahead of us. Let’s keep our foot on the gas as we close out the final days of this fundraising quarter and set ourselves up for victory in November.
