Former President Barack Obama will headline his first fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee since leaving office in January.
The fundraiser will be held in Washington, DC on September 27, CNN reports. Invitations were sent out to party donors on Friday.
The fundraiser is necessary for the DNC, as Chair Tom Perez has struggled to bring in funds since taking the helm of the organization in the wake of the Democrats' losses in the 2016 elections. July marked the party's worst month of fundraising since January 2009, when Obama took office, bringing in only $3.8 million. Overall, the DNC has $6.8 million and is $3.4 million in debt.
Meanwhile, Republicans have posted very good fundraising numbers, hauling in $7.8 million in July. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has $47.1 million in cash on hand and no debt.
Obama's only other fundraiser since leaving office was for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, at a home in Washington . That organization is led by Obama's former attorney general, Eric Holder.
Perez has said that the DNC will give each state's Democratic party $10,000 through 2018, and will issue $10 million in competitive grants for state party efforts considered innovative. The DNC will also spend $1.5 million on Virginia's statewide and local races this year.
