DCCC raises more than $12M in October

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the body charged with electing Democrats to the House, raised more than $12.2 million last month.

The haul surpassed the $7.68 million the DCCC raised in October 2017, making last month its best off-year October for fundraising in DCCC history. Thursday’s announcement also showed that the group is on pace in the fourth quarter of 2019 to exceed its third-quarter total of $27.4 million.

{mosads}The body last month raised more than $6.3 million in grassroots donations over the phone, through the mail and online. The average online donation was $17. 

“Democrats are delivering on the priorities of the American people as they work to bring down the cost of health care, fight to make prescription drugs more affordable, and stand up for the rule of law,” DCCC Chairwoman Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) said in a statement. “We know how high the stakes are, and from our grassroots support it is clear that folks across this country agree that a Democratically-controlled House of Representatives is the only firewall against the recklessness of President Trump’s Washington.”

“We are working overtime to protect and expand this House Majority, and we will not give an inch,” she continued.

The fundraising figure comes as Democrats escalate the House’s impeachment investigation into President Trump over his dealings with Ukraine. Though Democrats at first worried that impeachment could turn off voters, particularly in swing districts, new data from Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, shows that a plurality of voters in key battleground states support impeaching and removing Trump from office. 

The DCCC is hoping to build on its gains from last year when Democrats flipped 40 seats to retake control of the House. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the DCCC’s GOP counterpart, has not yet released its fundraising haul for October.

The DCCC in January laid out 33 districts it was targeting to flip, and added six more to its list in August; however, it also has to defend 31 districts that are currently represented by Democrats but that Trump won in 2016.