Hillary Clinton has shown an incredible dedication and commitment to raising money for downballot candidates. She knows that when she is President she is going to need all the help she can get to pass an agenda. She knows that we need to elect Democrats in state legislatures in order to impact redistricting and ensure regressive policies enacted after the 2010 wipeout in states across the nation are rolled back and progressive policies can be put in place.
There have been a lot of lies and a lot of whining spread about as a result of Hillary’s commitment to downballot Democrats. I thought we had dealt with this a month ago when all of the ridiculous “money laundering” lies were debunked, but based on comments in the diary about Hillary’s stellar fundraising in May, we need to go over this again.
First- what does money raised for state parties do? It allows state parties to run a coordinated field program for candidates from Senate down to state Houses. In Presidential battlegrounds, this field program can be further coordinated with the Presidential campaign. The practical outcome of that is that Democrats are looking for one pool of volunteers who go out and speak about all the candidates. Why is this important? State senate candidates can’t afford to pay a full time organizer while getting their communications message out. Beyond that, they won’t do so well if they’re competing with Presidential and US Senate races for volunteer time. Having a coordinated field program means that these candidates have resources freed up to run radio, television, and mail programs that can reinforce the door knocks and phone calls being done by volunteers for candidates up and down the ballot. This is absolutely crucial. It saves time, it saves money, and it increases the effectiveness of everyone’s campaign at every level of the ballot.
State Party coordinated campaigns are the single best thing we have going for us heading into 2016 and 2020 redistricting.
So how does the Hillary Victory Fund impact these coordinated campaigns? It is, admittedly, a bit complicated. There ARE winners and losers among the states that agreed to participate in this, but the money raised for downballot races will all go to downballot races based on the strategic situation of the election.
The Hillary Victory Fund has nothing to do with Citizens United, but it IS impacted by a Supreme Court decision impacting campaign finance. McCutcheon vs FEC essentially eliminated AGGREGATE limits on campaign donations. That means that maximums to individual candidates and committees remain in place (for instance $2700 for Presidential primary and $2700 for the general election) but a donor can max out to as many candidates and committees as they’d like. That’s where committees like the Victory Fund come in. It is basically a one-stop portal that allows people to donate to a candidate, the DNC, and state parties at the same time.
This works through a tiered system: the first $5400 donated goes to Hillary for America ($2700 for the primary, $2700 for the general). Anything over that is donated to the DNC and various participating state parties under the limits set out by law. $33,400 goes to the DNC directly and each of the 32 participating state parties gets up to $10,000.
Now, here is where things get a little complicated, and where some of the poutrage and confusion may have come in. In terms of transfers between state parties and the DNC, there are no limits. What this means is that the Tennessee state party can transfer money to the DNC which the DNC can then transfer for spending in Florida. Obviously not the best for Tennessee, but good news for Ohio and for Democrats nationally hoping to win back the Senate. States obviously had to agree to be part of this arrangement.
And here’s where the confusion comes in. State parties have mostly been transferring this money directly back to the DNC as it is disbursed. This will allow the DNC to make strategic decisions and send resources to places where they will have the most impact. Many of those decisions will be made down the line as the various races take shape. Money HAS begun to flow into several states with key Senate races, building up infrastructure and volunteer armies early on. I’ve already gotten calls from the Wisconsin coordinated campaign making sure I was voting for Russ Feingold and recruiting me to volunteer.
Obviously, though, a great deal of this money has yet to be disbursed to state parties. On the other hand, the money raised through this fund for Hillary's primary campaign continues to be sent to her campaign quickly, for obvious reasons. After the convention there will be another massive transfer to Hillary for America from the HVF because of the general election dollars raised. Meanwhile, we will continue to see dollars sent to the state parties largely sent back to the DNC so that we can have a fully funded national strategy to make the most gains we can in the Senate, House, and state governments. The fact that most of the money has gone to Hillary shouldn’t surprise anyone who is being intellectually honest. She is raising money for the primary through this fundraising vehicle.
As I mentioned, this is complicated. That is the final piece of the puzzle- administering this thing. It takes trained and professional staff people to track donations, make sure they go to the right places, to raise money, etc. The Hillary Victory Fund is, unsurprisingly, administered by the Clinton campaign. Her campaign is reimbursed for the costs of running it (like paying those staff people) and for the fundraising it does. That also should not surprise anyone who is being intellectually honest. People don’t go through donation reports and prepare FEC filings for the joy of it. The fact that Hillary’s people administer the fund is not evidence of some kind of corruption. In fact, it makes them MORE accountable. They are responsible for making sure that donation limits are adhered to. If they don’t, the FEC will be on them and they won’t be able to shift the blame to anyone else.
There is no dark money here. These are all donations tracked by the FEC. Hillary for America is entitled to about 1.5% of a maximum donation to the HVF and there is no way for them to take more than that. 98.5% of a maximum donation will be spend by the DNC and state parties to elect downballot Democrats. Is there an advantage to Hillary to have these well-funded coordinated campaigns in states that are also Presidential battlegrounds? Of course there are. It is somewhat lucky for her that Senate priorities happen to fall in crucial Presidential states- Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada are all good examples of this overlap. Hillary’s Presidential campaign organizers will be able to coordinate with the state party people to run a field program for a unified ticket. That helps Hillary, but it helps a lot more the further you go down the ballot.
The Hillary Victory Fund will be a huge part of the reason we make gains this year. With Trump at the top of the ticket, the possibility of a wave election is very real, and we will need to have all the resources possible to take advantage of that. This is not the prettiest system, but it is the one we have and these are, at least, direct donations tracked by the FEC that are accountable. We need a Supreme Court that will overturn Citizens United AND McCutcheon, but unfortunately politics is a game where the winners make the rules. You don’t unilaterally disarm or you give the other side more power to make things ever worse.
The bottom line is this: Hillary has raised over 60 million dollars that will be spent by the DNC and state parties for downballot Democrats. She has also raised money for her own campaign. If you can’t understand why she is spending money she raised for the primary but we aren’t spending huge sums downballot five months before election day then you either are deceiving yourself or you need a crash course in politics 101. Every single dollar of that 60 million will be spend downballot, but not necessarily right away.
Hillary understands this, and is making sure we have every arrow in our quiver this fall.