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GOP Central Committee Fundraising Numbers

Let’s take a look at the fundraising totals for the 24 Republican Central Committees. Two counties do not have numbers included; Caroline County, which filed an affidavit of non-participation; and Charles County, which still has not filed a report as of the publication of this piece.

2017 Contributions 2017 Expenditures Burn Rate Current Cash on Hand
Allegany County $6,346.00 $5,423.45 85.5% $6,262.10
Anne Arundel County $30,315.50 $27,504.02 90.7% $40,835.81
Baltimore City $1,373.62 $1,770.66 128.9% $3,207.90
Baltimore County $27,445.01 $25,604.26 93.3% $26,559.55
Calvert County $29,583.28 $25,792.76 87.2% $13,148.30
Caroline County Affidavit Affidavit N/A Affidavit
Carroll County $1,132.21 $1,292.00 114.1% $12,115.71
Cecil County $8,785.29 $5,184.87 59.0% $12,022.63
Charles County No report filed No report filed No report filed No report filed
Dorchester County $917.00 $2,546.36 277.7% $2,920.68
Frederick County $1,485.00 $12,703.63 855.5% $6,431.29
Garrett County $300.00 $1,000.00 333.3% $5,281.06
Harford County $22,910.21 $11,145.72 48.6% $24,207.08
Howard County $33,557.62 $24,859.62 74.1% $28,336.88
Kent County $0.00 $1,240.78 $1,939.50
Montgomery County $2,800.00 $4,367.48 156.0% $30,177.62
Prince George’s County $11,708.25 $9,010.22 76.9% $21,642.33
Queen Anne’s County $2,295.00 $1,381.06 60.2% $1,054.55
St. Mary’s County $7,670.18 $250.00 3.3% $14,910.14
Talbot County $3,648.53 $2,655.60 72.8% $3,975.48
Washinton County $13,055.82 $8,460.44 64.8% $5,269.52
Wicomico County $8,115.00 $6,630.17 81.7% $4,629.51
Worcester County $1,315.00 $3,780.81 287.5% $2,966.48

The most alarming numbers of this bunch are Frederick Counties, for the Frederick County is in dire straits. Frederick Republicans managed to raise only $1,485 in 2017. They also managed to spend a whopping $12,703.63; that’s an 855% burn-rate for the year. The Frederick County GOP also has only $6,431.29 cash-on-hand remaining; a small fraction of the $78,408.26 that the Frederick County Democratic Party has on hand. For a county that is crucial to Governor Larry Hogan’s re-election in 2018 and a county with so many competitive races, the fact that the Central Committee raised only $1485 is a huge problem for Republicans across the state. Needless to say, the Frederick County GOP’s fundraising prowess has been on a downward trajectory during the term of this committee:

  • 2015: $25,106.15
  • 2016: $20,089.23
  • 2017: $1,485.00

The Frederick County Republican Central Committee has been known in recent years for its drama and some of the abrasive personalities on the committee, including our 2016 Least Valuable Conservative. Let’s hope they can pull it together in 2018.

Montgomery County was also a bit of a sore spot, as $2,800 is a low number for a county with so many wealthy Republicans. That fundraising was problematic for the Montgomery County GOP shouldn’t be surprising, as this was something I predicted when Amie Hoeber was named finance committee chairman, a brainchild of recently ousted County Party Chairman Dick Jurgena. In light of her plans to run for Congress, I wrote: “how can Hoeber be able to adequately do her job and serve the Central Committee while beginning to focus on her campaign?” The answer is exactly what I suspected it would be; she can’t.

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Let’s hope that all of the Central Committees, particularly the ones that have been lacking in fundraising prowess, are able to build upon the excitement of this election year and raise sufficient funds to help out their candidates. And let us also hope that all candidates who are running for Central Committee across the state have at least given some thought to how they can help their county party increase their resources for this and future election cycles.

EDIT, 3:15 PM, 1/19: Some folks have contacted me expressing concerns that the Montgomery County administrative account numbers are not reflected in this data.  The data shown above is for electoral accounts, as every county has an electoral account but Montgomery County is one of only three counties that has an administrative account.  Administrative accounts can’t be used to in any electioneering activities which is why those numbers weren’t included and ultimately don’t matter in this analysis. But Montgomery County raised $64,162.85 in their administrative account, spent $60,386.42, and displays a negative balance due to a software reporting error known to the State Board of Elections.



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