The GOP smashed digital fundraising records in 2021, as the party looks to retake the House and Senate in this year’s midterm elections.
According to the Hill, GOP fundraising site WinRed raised a record $559 million in 2021, which included raking in $158 million in the fourth quarter alone.
The platform also reported strong donations for state and local campaigns as well, including $32 million in the last quarter of 2021.
Of note, first-time donors accounted for $209.3 million of the digital funds raised, including $63.4 in the final quarter of the year.
WinRed was created to challenge the Democrats’ online fundraising arm, ActBlue, which gave the Democrats a huge advantage in online fundraising.
But those days are over, thanks to WinRed.
In the summer of 2019, President Trump announced the creation of WinRed, by tweeting the following:
“I am pleased to announce the launch of tmagac.winred.com. This new platform will allow my campaign and other Republicans to compete with the Democrats money machine. This has been a priority of mine and I’m pleased to share that it is up and running!”
More than 3,200 campaigns and organizations use WinRed nationally, and as the 2022 mid-terms approach, it is likely to see another record-setting year of campaign contributions.
Overall, financial contributions to House and Senate Republican candidates have been impressive thus far.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) concluded 2021 with $78.2 million in cash on hand, which is a 146 percent increase from the cash it had on hand at the end of 2019.
For the year, the NRCC raised $140 million, buoyed by a 115 percent increase in contributions from online donors compared to 2019.
The NRCC received $17.9 million in December and concluded 2021 with $78.2 million to spend for this year’s elections.
On the Senate side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee ended 2021 with $32.7 million cash on hand. The final quarter of fundraising was a record for a three-month period in an off-year election year.
Around 443,000 donors gave to the NRSC in 2021, including 170,000 from first-time donors.
