WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden is staking his reelection bid on the political and financial muscle of the Democratic 春色直播 Committee.
As it prepares for a bruising 2024 contest, plans to raise and spend around $2 billion. But it will do so in coordination with the national and state Democratic parties, in an effort to establish a coordinated campaign around the country. The idea is to bolster field, volunteer and data organizations, and ensure they work jointly to promote Biden and down-ballot Democratic candidates.
鈥淭he president is really rewriting the playbook when it comes to what a reelection campaign looks like and how we are in deep partnership with the DNC,鈥 said , Biden鈥檚 campaign manager, 鈥渁nd will continue to show, by all metrics, that we鈥檙e running a successful campaign.鈥
The strategy is different from the way the last Democratic president treated the DNC. Barack Obama largely shunned the party's traditional fundraising apparatus and instead raised money with his own groups, relying on personal star power. That helped leave the DNC depleted and in debt.
What Rodriguez called a 鈥渙ne-team, one-fight mentality鈥 allows Democrats to raise money faster than Biden's campaign can itself, while letting the reelection effort keep its staffing and logistical expenses low as it relies on state and national parties to cover costs. The party says the plan lets it remain unified politically and financially behind Biden, while Republican presidential candidates .
But avoided serious primary challengers and teamed with the Republican 春色直播 Committee to take in more than $1 billion in 2020, without winning reelection. The Democrats' model also requires Biden's 2024 campaign to lean more heavily on parties in major states where Republicans have dominated recent elections.
Rodriguez, though, pointed to Democrats' success in last year's midterm races, when the DNC spent $95 million on campaigns across the country and helped the party's candidates defy historical precedent by . The amount spent was more than double the committee's previous midterm cycle record of $42 million ahead of the 2010 race.
Biden's 2020 campaign gave the national party its supporter and fundraising data after Inauguration Day in 2021. And the DNC says it has since expanded the volunteer list to 250,000 in all 50 states. Rodriguez said the committee is now building and testing new precision online targeting tools , especially young ones and those of color.
The DNC also has developed systems allowing its volunteers to share localized content to bolster phone banking and texting to voters, and created 鈥渞elational organizing鈥 to help existing volunteers potentially organize people closest to them. Sam Cornale, the DNC鈥檚 executive director, said that national and state parties will be able to hire organizers, recruit volunteers and talk to voters 鈥渁s close to year-round and every day as resources allow.鈥
鈥淎s we are scaling this effort, you will see state party payrolls increase dramatically,鈥 Cornale said.
Fundraising is also easier since the DNC and the president鈥檚 affiliated fundraising arm, the Biden Victory Fund, can raise roughly $1 million annually from individual donors. Biden's reelection campaign itself can only collect $6,600 per donor, per year.
鈥淭he work that we know needs to happen, the broad swath of it, the DNC and our state party partners can do, and pay for," Cornale said.
Cornale has traveled with Rodriguez to make fundraising pitches, and reelection campaign staffers are working out of the DNC's Washington headquarters until the Biden 2024 campaign opens its official base in Wilmington, Delaware, later this year. For now, the reelection campaign has on its payroll.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important that, at this stage, we鈥檙e smart about where we鈥檙e investing and how we鈥檙e building and growing," Rodriguez said.
The DNC staff, by contrast, has grown to 300-plus, double its size prior to the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections.
春色直播 Democrats previewed their 2024 approach in key Wisconsin state races . The DNC sent Biden-signed fundraising emails for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and organized in-state robocalls with South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a close congressional ally of the president.
For his part, Obama created his own political operation, Organizing for America, which was meant to capitalize on a 2008 campaign that appealed to swing voters who might have been alienated by traditional party entities. The move also came amid concerns the DNC was too closely aligned with Obama's presidential primary opponent, Hillary Clinton.
But DNC and state party chairs complained about competing with Organizing for America for donors. The group went through various iterations, eventually ending up as part of the DNC. Still, the committee was millions of dollars in debt until 2019.
Jim Messina, who managed Obama鈥檚 2012 reelection campaign, said it secured joint fundraising agreements, which ease donor limits, with Democratic parties in 10 battleground states, plus New York and California 鈥 while Biden 2024 has agreements with all 50 states. He also noted that Biden has 鈥渓ong been a traditional Democrat鈥 more than Obama.
鈥淗e came from the Democratic world,鈥 Messina said. 鈥淗e understands the DNC whereas, because Obama was running against Hillary, who sort of had control of the DNC, he built a grassroots movement outside of it.鈥
The Biden campaign and DNC in the 10 weeks since the president announced his reelection. That trailed the $85.6 million Obama took in during the April-to-June quarter in 2011, though he launched three weeks earlier than Biden.
Messina said, however, that he was most excited about the DNC and Biden affiliates' cash-on-hand of $77 million on June 30. He said that showed the campaign鈥檚 discipline in allowing the party to cover costs.
鈥淚 admire how little money they've spent,鈥 Messina said.
The DNC has paid for early Biden 2024 TV spots, as well as advertising around issues like defending abortion rights, while also financing the president鈥檚 fundraising events. Biden鈥檚 in June was with powerful unions who paid for the event themselves.
Keith Ellison, Minnesota鈥檚 attorney general and former DNC deputy chair, said all of this means "the DNC is a better organization than it was five, 10 years ago.鈥
鈥淣ow we鈥檙e back on our feet," he said. "There鈥檚 still a lot of strengthening that needs to happen.鈥
Ellison said that, going forward, the committee must ensure it doesn鈥檛 鈥渢urn into a little appendage of Biden,鈥 and called getting 鈥渢oo wrapped around the existing president鈥 a "legitimate concern." He also said that state parties need to make more progress in places like New York, where helped the GOP reclaim the chamber last year.
Indeed, relying more heavily on state parties will require coordinating with officials in solidly Republican places, like Texas, or onetime battlegrounds that have become increasingly red, such as and .
Kevin Cate, a longtime Florida political strategist and veteran of Obama鈥檚 2008 campaign, said the May victory of is reason for optimism, and shrugged off suggestions Republican wins in recent statewide races have left Florida Democrats too weak to do what the DNC needs.
鈥淚 think the biggest concern here is the DNC just giving up and letting the party flail," he countered.
A recent said the reelection campaign would stay on the offensive in Florida and North Carolina. Absent was Texas, where Democrats haven鈥檛 won statewide office in nearly 30 years.
Still, Texas Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said the DNC has since told him that the original strategy list 鈥渨asn鈥檛 comprehensive.鈥
鈥淲hat they鈥檝e told me is that Texas will be a battleground state," Hinojosa said, noting that, financially, the party 鈥渉asn't given us the love up until now.鈥
鈥淣ow, what that means," he added, "depends on how things look in the future.鈥
