The mere mention of the Republican National Committee to anyone on the right is bound to elicit a variety of emotions. Early in the year, a contentious battle over who would chair the organization transpired, with Ronna McDaniel ultimately being re-elected to the position a fourth time. 

Since then, questions about the RNC's effectiveness have abounded. During the 2023 election, reports emerged that the Virginia Republican Party asked for help and were denied. McDaniel responded by saying that because the RNC is a federal committee, it couldn't be expected to participate in state races. Given all races ultimately happen at the state level, I'm not sure how convincing that excuse was.

Whoever is to blame, Republicans certainly missed some opportunities due to a lack of resources, being outspent in every single major race except in Mississippi's gubernatorial contest (and that was almost evenly split). 

See: Latest Republican Fundraising Numbers Are a Horror Show, and Something Has to Give

That begs the question of whether the RNC has or will have the resources needed to truly make a difference in 2024.

Republican National Committee cash on hand at end of November:

2016 $21,354,030
2017 $39,838,889
2018 $27,008,324
2019 $63,233,392
2020 $58,777,814
2021 $65,468,902
2022 $17,275,601

2023 $9,956,381 https://t.co/0MDMAwzZD8 pic.twitter.com/BoY2j1aTFA

— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) December 20, 2023

McDaniel took over the RNC with a cash-on-hand number of roughly $21.4 million. As of the latest filing in November of 2023, the committee only has $9.9 million. By comparison, the DNC has $20 million in the bank, over doubling what Republicans have. 

The point of highlighting these numbers isn't to write a rant about McDaniel. It's to point out that whatever the RNC is doing, it's not working. I would expect the fundraising to pick up in the Spring as the election begins to draw near, but the starting point is dire, and I don't think pretending otherwise is going to help anyone involved.

So what can be done? I'm not the RNC chair, so I'm not going to claim to have (nor should I be expected to have) all the answers. I would suggest that the current fundraising strategy of bombarding the same mailing lists over and over with "5x matching" promotions and other gimmicks isn't working. What the RNC needs is to rebuild trust, and I'm not sure how that happens. 

Some will suggest a change in leadership, but there doesn't appear to be any stomach for that when it comes to the party's actual powerbrokers. Regardless, it doesn't matter where you put the blame. All that matters are the results. If the RNC is struggling to raise money leading into a presidential election, then something is wrong, and changes need to be made. People can fight over the details, but I hope we can all admit that much.