No. 5 in a series.
This series continues with a familiar story- Dem enthusiasm is showing in fundraising, voter registrations, primary voting, and many other ways. Due to my travel, and a lackluster June FR report from ActBlue, I am resuming with Julys’ impressive fundraising report. As most Kos readers know, Abortion Rights activism since the Dobbs Decision seems to be the biggest driver of recent donations.
Small-dollar donors continue to power Dem candidates, progressive organizations, and non-profits across the country. In July 2022, 1.5 million unique donors gave more than 4 million contributions to 13,483individual campaigns and organizations. Fundraising nearly doubled this month, both in the total number of dollars raised and the number of contributions made, compared to July 2018- the last midterm year.
“These numbers demonstrate continued momentum around the issues small-dollar donors care most about. Donors are taking action across the country ahead of this year’s midterms and as a result of the continued attacks on reproductive healthcare and other fundamental rights.” This includes gun safety and gun violence concerns, reactions to the Rep. voter suppression and the Jan 6th insurrection and hearings, climate change issues and concerns, and the ever-present focus on the US economy.
Neither I nor ActBlue are making any attempt to quantify the impact among the many issues driving donations this year. More important is the fact that so far in the 2022 cycle, small donors gave just over 91% of the amount in the 2020 general election. It’s a new ball game in ‘22 for Democrats!
| July ’18 | July ’20 | July ’22 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | 2,105,301 | 6,219,223 | 4,056,459 |
| Dollars Raised | $83,743,926 | $240,339,299 | $162,724,245 |
| Average Contribution Size | $39.78 | $38.64 | $40.11 |
| Unique Donors | 938,024 | 2,466,569 | 1,520,437 |
| Unique Campaigns, Committees, and Organizations | 7,229 | 10,912 | 13,483 |
Following- Cycle-to-cycle comparisons:
(To clarify, the 2022 cycle begins Jan 1, 2021, and continues thru the election in Nov. ‘22)
| 2018 cycle through July ’18 | 2020 cycle through July ’20 | 2022 cycle through July ’22 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | 27,992,635 | 76,439,270 | 60,431,943 |
| Dollars Raised | $996,099,934 | $2,535,977,190 | $2,310,288,714 |
| Average Contribution Size | $35.58 | $33.18 | $38.23 |
| Unique Donors | 3,796,185 | 11,272,225 | 6,248,879 |
| Unique Campaigns, Committees, and Organizations | 12,896 | 19,306 | 24,650 |