Democrats benefit from cash influx despite party turmoil

Democratic candidates are raking in large sums of money for Senate, House and downballot campaigns — a sign that the grassroots enthusiasm remains strong despite earlier concerns of fundraising challenges following the party’s rout in November.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), one of the GOP’s top targets next year, raised more than $11 million in his first quarter of fundraising, while former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), a Virginia gubernatorial candidate, raked in $6.7 million in the first three months of 2025. Even Democrats running in two House special elections in Florida raised more than $15 million despite campaigning in comfortably Republican districts.

Strategists and fundraisers point to different reasons the party is still seeing strong numbers, suggesting President Trump and his administration are galvanizing voters and that an anxious Democratic donor base wants to help the party.

But some members, too, are looking to engage more directly with candidates and campaigns right now, as opposed to larger Democratic groups, pointing to frustration with the leadership in Washington.

“I think there are a lot of donors who simply want to be inspired by the cause, want to believe in the leadership of the candidate or the cause in order to be compelled to give,” said Rufus Gifford, who served as finance chair for the Biden-Harris campaign and later the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.

Months after a disappointing November election, Democrats have struggled to navigate a second Trump term, with little agreement on messaging or tactics to oppose the president. The party has also been mired in a leadership void as former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris have largely remained out of the spotlight.

But the party has seen some glimmers of hope recently as several of its candidates notched wins in downballot races. Its candidates have also seen large fundraising hauls, even though the party has had to contend with angry donors who are frustrated with it after November.

Democrats say it makes sense that some candidates, such as Ossoff, are seeing large sums of cash, given the competitiveness of their races.

Alan Kessler, a longtime Democratic fundraiser based in Philadelphia, said the Trump administration has been helpful in fueling Democratic donations.

“It’s not like people have given up … to the contrary, it’s almost that they’re being energized by these almost daily or bidaily actions by this administration,” Kessler said.

Elon Musk, the Trump adviser who has generated anger from the left over the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash the federal government, in particular has become a top target for Democrats.

In Wisconsin’s recent Supreme Court race, Democrats looked to harness anger around Musk to gin up their base. Liberal candidate Susan Crawford ended up beating her GOP opponent by 10 points.

Meanwhile, the Virginia House Democratic Caucus is already featuring Musk prominently in its ads. Old Dominion is teeing up competitive elections for governor, lieutenant governor and the state Legislature this fall.

The image of Musk with his chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will “probably be in every ad any of us see over the next year or so, or year and a half,” Kessler said.

At the same time, members of the party say big-time donors are thinking more carefully about what their next steps look like.

For large donors, “there’s still a lot of pause,” said Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who was director of the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the County. He noted “the frustration about some of the groups that were spending a lot of money” that people were asked to contribute to during the 2024 election.

“I don’t view the fact that, like, big dollars aren’t necessarily flowing at this point as a bad thing,” Schale said.

“I don’t doubt that they will when it matters. Think that there’s a lot of folks who are just kind of working through the process of figuring out where their money is best spent” heading into the midterms, he added.

Several Democrats said some donors have been more inclined to give specifically to candidates and campaigns rather than to larger Democratic groups.

“I want to see more leadership at the federal level before I’m encouraging folks to be giving broadly there, certainly to things like party committees and super PACs,” said a Democratic donor adviser, noting they were referring to “primarily on the Senate and House side.”

“It’s really been individual campaigns, individual elections. Obviously at the top of [the] list this year, New Jersey and Virginia,” noted Kessler, the longtime Democratic fundraiser, of where donors are spending money.

Kessler said donors will receive guidance from committees like the House and Senate campaign arms on where to invest, and those donors will then invest in those races or campaigns directly.

Meanwhile, some Democratic groups — like the Democratic National Committee (DNC) — are signaling that they’re still seeing enthusiastic fundraising from their side.

“The DNC saw its best February and March for grassroots fundraising in history — only the latest in a growing trend of Democratic momentum at the ballot box, at town halls, and in cities and towns across the country where millions took to the streets to protest the Trump-Musk agenda,” DNC senior spokesperson Hannah Muldavin told The Hill.

“Working families are angry, energized, and ready to fight back — that work starts at the grassroots and has turned into the Democratic overperformance and historic fundraising we’re seeing this year.” 

Some Republicans are unimpressed about where Democrats are spending their money, noting the high-dollar amounts raised in the reliably red Florida special elections.

“It doesn’t matter where Democrats dump their money or how much of it they raise — look at what happened in Florida where they outspent Republicans and still lost. Democrats will keep losing elections because their policies are wildly unpopular,” said Republican National Committee spokesperson Abigail Jackson.

While Democrats are riding high on the surge in fundraising, party members are warning not to get too comfortable as they look to flip the House next year.

“I certainly wouldn’t get cocky about this, because I think that it is going to still be hard,” said Gifford, the Harris-Walz campaign finance chair.

“I think that donors are willing to give, but they, again, they want leadership. They want direction. They want to believe in the candidate that they’re giving to.”