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EXCLUSIVE – National Republican Congressional Committee chair Rep. Tom Emmer says he’s “always worried about the fundraising.”
The NRCC hauled in a massive $40.9 million during the January-March first quarter of 2022 fundraising, which the House GOP reelection arm noted was its best first quarter of fundraising quarter ever.
But the rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee topped the NRCC by roughly $11 million.
HOUSE GOP REELECTION ARM BREAKS ANOTHER FUNDRAISING RECORD
Emmer, the Minnesota Republican who’s steering the NRCC for a second straight election cycle, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News on Monday that “we’re doing what we need to. We’ve said from day one – ever since I started this job three years ago – we’re never going to have their [the DCCC’s] money. We’ve just got to have enough money.”
And he spotlighted that “the entire Republican team has done an amazing job. We’ve got almost $100 million cash on hand. Compare that to two years ago when we were $41 million… Fundraising is race without a finish line. You’ve just got to keep pushing. I’m confident we’ll have the resources we need.”
Former President Donald Trump headlines a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraising dinner, in Tampa, Florida on Nov. 8, 2021 (National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC))
Emmer was interviewed hours before former President Donald Trump was scheduled to headline the NRCC’s annual “Countdown to the Majority” fundraising dinner, which his being held this year in Dallas. It’s the second straight year the former president has headlined the NRCC’s fundraising event. Trump served as the main attraction at the last one – which was held in November in Tampa, Florida.
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Emmer said that the former president “has an amazing ability to help us raise money.” And he predicted that “this year’s dinner… will be every bit as productive as the one a year ago.”
While the GOP lost the White House and the Senate majority in the 2020 election cycle, House Republicans defied expectations and took a big bite out of the House Democrats majority. And in November’s midterm elections the GOP needs a net gain of just five seats in the 435-member chamber to win back the majority.
And following a 2020 cycle that saw a record number of female and diverse recruits, the NRCC has made even further gains this cycle. “Keep in mind we were really good last cycle in identifying the best candidates, in getting our messages to the voters,” Emmer said,. “We’re going to be even better than we were last cycle in making sure those messages get where they need to.”
Monday’s fundraising dinner comes a week after news that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is likely to overturn the landmark nearly half century old Roe v. Wade ruling, which rocked the political world.
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Democrats face historical headwinds and a bruising political climate fueled by soaring inflation, rising crime, and a well-publicized southern border crisis, which are epitomized by President Biden’s flagging approval ratings. But party strategists see a silver lining in the seismic prospect of the loss of legalized abortion if Roe is overturned and the issue returns to state legislatures.
And many Democrats on the ballot this year have quickly gone on the attack against Republicans, as they hope to alter the campaign conversation, energize their party’s base, and win back key female and suburban voters who helped the Democrats win back the House in 2018 but appeared to cross party lines in some 2020 congressional contests and again in GOP victories in elections in Virginia and New Jersey last November.
DCCC chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney predicted last week that “the central choice in the 2022 elections will be about who will defend our freedom.”
And the New York Democrat argued that “Democrats will fight like hell to protect them; Republicans will rip them away.”
But Emmer insisted that “the number one issue is still inflation and it’s going to remain inflation.”
Gasoline prices are displayed at a gas station, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S., March 9, 2022. ( REUTERS/Mike Segar)
Pointing to a new Reuters report where more than 20 female voters interviewed in the battleground state of Arizona said that inflation was still their top issue, Emmer stressed, “It’s going to be inflation, it’s going to be crime, it’s going to be the border, it’s going to be education. I don’t think the issues have changed.”
And Emmer charged, “I know that Democrats would like to talk about anything but those issues.”
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Emmer argued that “polling that shows the Democrats’ support” for what he termed “absolutely no limits on abortion, that polling shows that’s incredibly unpopular,” which he insisted would “enhance the Republicans’ message.”
Emmer noted that “we’ve had a game plan that we put in place. We’re going to stick to our game plan. If adjustments need to be made, we’ll make that accordingly.”