Democrats are anxious to rebuild their party on the heels of President Trump’s victory in November. But they have a major problem as they try to refashion their brand: The money isn’t there.
Democratic donors — from bundlers to small dollar donors — say they are still angry about the election results and uninspired by anything their side has put forward since then.
“I’ll be blunt here: The Democratic Party is f‑‑‑ing terrible. Plain and simple,” one major Democratic donor said. “In fact, it doesn’t get much worse.”
A second donor was equally as pointed. “They want us to spend money, and for what? For no message, no organization, no forward thinking. … The thing that’s clear to a lot of us is that the party never really learned its lesson in 2016. They worked off the same playbook and the same ineffective strategies and to what end?”
Much of the consternation among the donor community stems from the unprecedented 2024 election cycle, where many felt misled by the party and former President Biden’s reelection campaign. Until the Democratic debate in June, donors and fundraisers were led to believe Biden could once again defeat Trump, even as many had serious reservations about it.
When Biden badly botched the debate, inflaming fears about his age, donors felt the campaign continued to hoodwink them, despite outwardly expressing their concerns to aides.
And even when former Vice President Kamala Harris took the reins as the Democratic nominee, donors say, they poured gobs of money into what was ultimately a campaign that ran an outdated strategy.
Then Harris lost. And morale among Democrats has been in the gutter ever since.
“This is worse than 2016,” the first Democratic donor said. “Our party is so weak and so diminished.”
Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who served as the director of the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, attributed some of the donor reluctance to fatigue, which he said happens after every election.
But, Schale acknowledged, “There is genuine frustration.”
By Amie Parnes and Hanna Trudo
