DNC invests $2M in 11 non-battleground states, targeting down-ballot elections

The Democratic National Committee announced Monday that it would grant nearly $2 million to state parties in 11 states not affected by fighting in the months leading up to the November election – unprecedented investments in on-the-ground organizing, l Data infrastructure and voter turnout efforts specifically target certain locations that are not central to the presidential or congressional battleground.

This spending in Maryland, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Washington will target high-profile elections like the U.S. Senate election. in Maryland, but they will also attract indigenous voters in Maryland. Places like South Dakota are mobilizing residents of Minnesota apartment buildings.

According to an announcement first shared with ABC News, the new investments are intended to “strategically” leverage the party’s significant war chest to bolster Democratic victories in down-ballot elections across the country ahead of November – competitions that come in tandem with the 2024 presidential election.

“Everywhere Democrats are running in November — from the school board to the White House — we are fighting to win,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement.

“As we work hand-in-hand with the Biden-Harris campaign to retain the White House, we are investing now to build infrastructure and win big in the election, because we know the stakes couldn’t be higher. investment is a boost to the DNC’s record support for state parties under President Biden, the best party builder Democrats have had in decades,” Harrison said.

He added that “the ongoing investments will result in Democratic victories so we can safeguard our fundamental freedoms, whether in red, purple or blue states across America.”

The DNC said that under the leadership of Harrison and President Joe Biden, Democrats have prioritized their support for state parties, increasing investments by 25% each year. Total Democratic state party funding now reaches more than $20 million this election cycle.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic Party together raised more than $187 million in the first three months of this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings, with the party billing the figure as the highest total raised by a single party. Democratic candidate in history at this point. the cycle.

Entering the second quarter of this year, the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party had a nearly $100 million cash advantage over former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party, but the Republican Party has outperformed the Democrats in recent weeks. .

The Trump campaign and the Republican Party raised $141 million in May, the campaign said last week, following a surge in funds immediately following the former president’s guilty verdict in the secret trial of New York.

The Trump campaign confirmed to ABC News that the $141 million includes money for Trump’s Save America PAC, which, however, covered much of Trump’s legal fees.

The Republican National Committee, which was overhauled earlier this year under Trump’s leadership, has also put a new emphasis on state-level investments. In a memo to members obtained by ABC News, Chairman Michael Whatley said in March that the party was focused on “reorganizing the field agenda so that our strategy is determined state by state.”

The RNC also hired a “liaison” in its data department “who will work with our sister committees and state parties, even in non-battleground states,” Whatley wrote in the memo.

“We will respond to the needs of individual states, realizing that every state is different and that we must move toward more neighbor-to-neighbor organizing at the precinct level, as the Trump campaign successfully did for the state caucuses. “Iowa,” Whatley wrote, noting that the party would also focus on organizing in communities that are not traditionally Republican and dispel reports that it was closing community centers across the country.

State-specific investments in the eleven states

Some of the DNC’s new spending will be aimed at traditionally blue states with federal elections. In Maryland, $250,000 will help fund a coordinated campaign team and organizers for Democratic candidate Angela Alsobrooks, who is running in a crucial U.S. Senate race centered on abortion messaging.

In New Mexico, the DNC is investing more than $70,000 to organize the Representative’s staff. Gabe Vasquez’s election rematch against Republican candidate Yvette Herrell in the 2nd Congressional District.

But the majority of the money will go to supporting Democrats in red states where the goals are somewhat achievable. For example, the party said it is trying to help its candidates win in the Texas Senate race by hiring organizers who will register voters and increase turnout among younger, more diverse parts of the electorate. The DNC is spending $140,000 to mobilize communities in “various regions of Texas.”

In Kansas, Democrats are trying to break the state’s vast legislative majority — a goal that separates them from a seat in both chambers. The DNC is spending $55,000 to also hire new organizing staff for these efforts, while also boosting the representative’s election campaign. Sharice Davis.

In deep-red Indiana, the party is contributing five figures to help support “legislative races in the central part of the state, where Democrats are fighting to hold the seats of three incumbent state lawmakers and aiming for five Republican seats,” according to the DNC. Four seats allow Democrats to break the GOP supermajority for the first time in 12 years, the DNC points out.

Utah Democrats plan to run their first coordinated campaign since 2016, with the DNC boosting their efforts by investing $45,000. In Nebraska, the party invested $40,000 to fund rural organizers in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, one of the most competitive because it encompasses Omaha and Council Bluffs, some of the state’s most purple areas .

Six-figure investments will also be planned to hire AAPI, youth and Native American organizers in Washington, Colorado and South Dakota, respectively.

In South Dakota, efforts to increase Native American voter turnout come as voter registration among the population has declined in the state, according to the DNC. The party is investing $70,000 to fund a statewide Indigenous voter registration program to support candidates in West River, a part of the state west of the Missouri River , and to hire new staff.

In Minnesota, a state with some of the highest apartment rental rates in the country, the DNC contributes more than six figures to fund the salaries of two full-time staff members responsible for obtaining accurate data, to communicate and organize people who live. in apartments in Minneapolis.

“The Democratic Party is committed to supporting the critical work led by state parties to build real trust and relationships with voters on the ground, and the partnership between the DNC and state parties remains strong. The funding announced today is tailor-made to meet individual states’ needs. “Parties — whether rural or urban, in red states or blue — will strengthen and expand Democrats’ organizing programs for years to come as we continue our commitment to defending the interests and fundamental rights of Americans in all fifty-seven states and territories,” Association of State Democratic Committees Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.

ABC News’ SooRin Kim and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.