House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is calling on Democrats in safe seats to increase donations to the party’s campaign arm, as the caucus works to retain its majority in the final stretch to the midterm elections.
In a letter to colleagues on Thursday, Hoyer implored members to pay their dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to help protect the party’s House majority.
“With only nineteen days left until Election Day, House Democrats must come together again to maintain our Majority by ensuring that the American people know how much we have done — and can still do — for them in Congress,” Hoyer wrote in the letter, first reported by Punchbowl News.
“Once again, I urge my colleagues to pay their dues to the DCCC,” he added.
The majority leader noted that if all non-Frontline members — those not running in competitive races — contributed 10 percent of their cash on hand, the DCCC would receive an additional $23 million, which could help vulnerable candidates in their final days of campaigning.
The DCCC currently lists 39 members in its Frontline program, which works to ensure that lawmakers in the most competitive races receive resources and information they need to run successful reelection bids.
“If you also believe our democracy is imperiled and seek to remain in the majority next Congress, paying your dues in imperative,” Hoyer wrote to his colleagues. “These dangerous times necessitate that none of us hold back resources.”
Hoyer’s request comes days after the DCCC announced that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would be matching dues that members pay to the campaign arm through Oct. 25, as first reported by Punchbowl News.
Hoyer said that with Pelosi’s promise to match dues, the DCCC could see a significant influx of cash.
“With Speaker Pelosi’s generous pledge to match member contributions to the DCCC, that $23 million would double overnight,” he wrote to members.
Hoyer himself announced that he was sending an additional $100,000 to the DCCC, putting him 30 percent above his dues goal. As of August, the majority leader raised $3.35 million for the DCCC, and had $1.27 million cash on hand, according to the group’s report that month.
Pelosi, on the other hand, raised $212.9 million for DCCC as of August, and had $6.64 million cash on hand, according to the group.
The DCCC raked in $56.5 million in the third quarter of this year, outraising its Republican counterpart by $14 million. Last quarter, the Democratic campaign arm hauled in $40.7 million.
The significant cash influx comes as House Democrats are fighting relentlessly to retain their slim 220-212 majority in the lower chamber. Election forecaster FiveThirtyEight has Republicans favored over Democrats to win the House, 75 percent to 25 percent, but Pelosi remains confident that the party can hold its majority.
“I believe that we will win the — hold the House,” the Speaker told CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” earlier this month.
“We will hold the House by winning more seats,” she added.
Hoyer, in his letter to colleagues, raised concerns about the number of Republican candidates for Congress questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Last week, The New York Times reported that about 70 percent of Republicans vying for seats in Congress questioned President Biden’s election.
“A House Republican majority this divorced from reality and basic facts would be a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law,” the majority leader wrote.