National Democrat groups have talked a big game about rebuilding their state parties ahead of the 2018 election cycle, but so far their words haven’t matched their actions. After DNC Chairman Tom Perez announced in July that the party would spend $10 million to rebuild state parties from the ground up, VICE News reports that the money “hasn’t arrived.” In fact, the DNC doesn’t even have $10 million on hand due to its anemic fundraising since Perez took over.
With state party chairs already worried that the DNC’s inability to follow through on its commitments will leave them without the resources they need to compete in key governors’ races this November, the Democrats’ project to rebuild their party in the states is off to a poor start as their efforts remain “slow and halting” thanks to the DNC’s lackluster progress.
Last July, eight months after the Democratic Party experienced one of its most devastating defeats in history, DNC chairman Tom Perez announced an “unprecedented” rebuild of the party from the ground up with a $10 million fund dedicated to state parties. That fund could provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to each state party, an enormous sum for often cash-strapped organizations.
That money hasn’t arrived.
In fact, the DNC didn’t even have $10 million on hand as of November 30 and declined to comment on whether it had the money now. And even if it did, it wouldn’t distribute the money right away, frustrating state party officials who are anxious about the coming midterm elections and describe the effort to rebuild as slow and halting.
"What our fear is, is that no matter how high this wave is in 2018, that we won’t have the ability to take advantage of that and win governors races, congressional races, and state legislative races that would normally be out of reach but could be competitive," Ray Buckley, the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who ran for DNC chairman against Perez last year, told VICE News.
