The Republican National Committee ended the first half of 2025 with a $65.56 million cash on hand advantage over the Democratic Party, as the left works to rebound from 2024 election losses and the right continues to deeply intertwine its future with President Trump.
New campaign finance filings show the RNC had more than $80.7 million at the end of June, while the Democratic National Committee finished with around $15.2 million in cash on hand as both parties prepare for next year’s midterm elections.
“The RNC has been working hand in glove with President Trump’s team to build the war chest needed to protect and expand our Republican majorities in Congress next year,” RNC spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in a statement. “Vice President Vance has done an amazing job as the RNC’s finance chair working with Chairman Whatley to do just that, and we’re not going to stop.”
The gap between the two is far wider than this same time period before the 2018 midterms, when the RNC’s cash on hand advantage over the DNC was $37.2 million at the end of June 2017. The political dynamics at that point were similar to now, with President Trump months removed from winning the White House and Republicans controlling the House and Senate. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats won back the House and started to build momentum that carried over into Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
While the midterms are still more than a year away, it already appears likely the House will be Democrats’ easiest route to winning back power in Washington. Republicans are also contending with the potential challenge that often befalls the party of the president, where the midterms become a referendum on the commander in chief.
Democrats are facing continued questions about their approach moving forward after last fall’s election setbacks, where Mr. Trump won a second term as president and the party lost the Senate and failed to retake the House. Earlier this year, party leaders chose Ken Martin, then the head of Minnesota’s Democratic Party, to take over the DNC in an attempt to gain stronger footing with next year’s midterms and the 2028 presidential election in mind.
But in his first months as party chair, Martin was forced to contend with intraparty tensions and disputes as he attempted to offer a stronger counter to Mr. Trump’s second term and Republican control in Washington.
The Martin-led DNC has succeeded however in raising more money than the national party organization did at this same stage in 2017, and in a recent news release, the DNC shared its finding that “contributions during the first five months of Chair Martin’s leadership are nearly 2:1 dollars raised in the months after the 2016 cycle.”
“The DNC is breaking grassroots fundraising records, bringing on more volunteers than ever, and raising record-setting funds to beat Republicans. Democrats are back in the ring thanks to grassroots energy across all 50 states, and together, we’re going to defeat the toxic Republican agenda and put this country back on track for hard-working families,” Martin said in a statement.
But the new round of campaign finance disclosures also underscores the challenges Democrats continue to face this year. Through the first six months of 2025, filings show the DNC taking in a little more than $69 million while the RNC’s total receipts were over $96 million.
