Republican Governors Association announces record-breaking fundraising

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) on Tuesday announced a record-breaking fundraising haul.

The organization raised $22.1 million in the first half of 2011, which is more than the group raised during all of 2007, the last comparable election year.

{mosads}Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who serves as chairman of the RGA, called the figures an indication of leadership by governors in the Republican Party.

“Republican governors are proving that the states are the most effective places from which to transform and save our country, and the RGA benefits from their leadership,” Perry said in a statement.

Perry and Vice Chairman Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, also emphasized the economic solvency of the RGA. In 2011, RGA eliminated more than $3 million in debt. The association now has $16.2 million cash on hand, twice the amount it did this time last year, according to the release.

McDonnell called the RGA “the nation’s most impactful political organization” and credited free-market solutions for the strength of the Republican organization.

Republicans hold the majority of gubernatorial mansions throughout the country, with 29 governors in office. The Democratic Governors Association, which has trailed the RGA in fundraising in the past, has yet to release its numbers.