The Democratic National Committee is broke, bickering, and bleeding donors heading into the midterms — and the best part is, we didn't even have to dig up the dirt ourselves. Their own people are out here saying it on the record. Amanda Litman, who runs the Democratic-allied organization Run For Something, summed up DNC chair Ken Martin's leadership with the kind of endorsement you'd put on a tombstone: "I think it's a really hard job, and also Ken is not doing it very well."
Not doing it very well. That's their own team talking. Imagine your coach holding a press conference to say "we're probably going to lose" before the game even starts.
Nick Arama at RedState laid out the full damage report this week, and it's even uglier when you see the numbers. As of the end of March, the DNC had $22.1 million in cash on hand. Sounds decent until you notice they're also sitting on $18.4 million in debt. That's a net position that wouldn't qualify you for a used car loan in most states.
Now compare that to the Republican National Committee. The RNC has $116.8 million in cash on hand. Debt? Zero. Nothing. Nada. The RNC is running a surplus that makes the DNC look like a lemonade stand that owes money to the neighbor kid.
But it's not just money. It's message. It's morale. It's the fact that major Democratic donors are showing reluctance to open their checkbooks for an organization that can't even get its own internal report released without a civil war. The DNC has been sitting on an unreleased internal report about what went wrong, and Democratic operatives are reportedly so frustrated with the direction of things that they're already whispering about recruiting a new chair.
Litman wasn't done twisting the knife either. She added, "I honestly think he's going to have a hard time rebuilding trust." Rebuilding trust. With his own party. Before a single midterm vote has been cast. Ken Martin hasn't even gotten to the fight yet and his own corner is throwing in the towel.
Meanwhile, CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten has been tracking the generic Congressional ballot, and the numbers for Democrats have gotten worse since March. Not better. Worse. They're supposed to be rallying the base, sharpening the message, raising money. Instead they're doing whatever the organizational equivalent of a dumpster fire is.
And here's the cherry on top — redistricting is expected to deliver even more seats to Republicans before a single ballot is cast. So Democrats aren't just behind in money, behind in messaging, and behind in internal unity. The map itself is working against them.
They can't run their own party but they want to run the country. Every leaked fight, every on-the-record insult from their own allies, every financial report showing the RNC lapping them five-to-one — it's all free opposition research. We don't even need to make ads. We just need to quote them.
Keep talking, folks. We're listening.