Campaign Finance Reports: Analyzing State Parties' Coffers

North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation

We spent the week digging into the 2nd Quarter campaign finance reports filed by the State Democratic and Republican Parties and determined that while the State Republican Party reported more cash on hand as of June 30, 2010, the Democratic Party has raised and spent more money than its GOP counterpart.

As of January 2009 - the beginning of the current election cycle - the State Democratic Party reported a beginning cash balance of $418,106. From that time through June 30, 2010, the Party reported raising $2,010,518 and spending $2,176,158, leaving it with $252,467 in the bank at the end of the 2nd Quarter.

The State Republican Party started the election cycle with $13,743 in the bank in January 2009. Finance reports show that it has brought in $1,058,525 since that time and has spent $688,687. This leaves the GOP with $383,582 in the bank as of June 30, 2010.

These funds are held by the state parties in a variety of accounts, including specified accounts for the N.C. House and N.C. Senate caucuses. Once the parties receive contributions, they can transfer funds freely between these accounts.

The parties also are not hindered by the state's $4,000 campaign contribution limit, meaning they can give and receive money in unlimited amounts. As mentioned in last Thursday's About the Capital campaign money to their party, most notably Speaker of the House Joe Hackney (D-Orange), who gave the Democratic Party $75,000 during the 2nd Quarter. We can only expect to see more of this as we near the November 2 General Election, and we also can expect to see the parties transferring large sums of cash into the campaign accounts of targeted House and Senate candidates.

Below is an analysis of the activity within the State Senate and House caucuses, including the cumulative cash balances of the candidates as well as the caucus accounts held by the parties.

Download chart in PDF format.

Senate Caucus Balances

The cash on hand balances in the two parties' Senate accounts reflect the near parity we saw in the cumulative cash totals for Democratic and Republican candidates running for the N.C. Senate (See report: N.C. Senate: Democratic & GOP Cash in Virtual Dead Heat). The Democratic party has three accounts that appear to be designated funds for the Senate Caucus and the total cash on hand for all three is $123,752.99.

The GOP's Senate account ended the 2nd Quarter with $84,368 after spending $342,455, the most of the GOP's three accounts. It also benefited the most from intraparty fund transfers, receiving a net gain of $44,185.

If we add the cash balances for the parties' Senate accounts to the cumulative cash on hand totals for their respective Senate candidates, the Democrats have a relatively narrow advantage of just over $100,000: the Democrats hold $2,497,165, while the GOP has $2,394,684.

House Caucus Balances

On the House side, the Republican Party is carrying a relatively large balance in their House account with $232,519, compared to the Democrats $128,037. While this advantage is notable - and perhaps unprecedented - our recent report of cash on hand totals for candidates from both parties (N.C. House: Democrats Lead GOP in Cash on Hand 2.4-to-1) showed House Democratic candidates with $3,270,866 in the bank, compared to Republicans with $1,333,743. Totaling these numbers still gives the Democrats an advantage of better than 2-to-1 in cash on hand.

On the surface, state party money does not appear to be a significant player yet in 2010 elections, but with congressional and state legislative redistricting at stake, the parties have a vested interest in doing all they can to achieve victory in November.

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