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Perez: RNC May Be Outraising DNC But It's 'Morally Bankrupt'

March 14, 2018

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez was grilled on the DNC's poor fundraising numbers by Fox News' Bret Baier Wednesday evening, responding that at least it wasn't "morally bankrupt" like its Republican counterpart.

After talking about Democrat Conor Lamb's apparent victory in the special election for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district—the race has not been officially called—Baier asked why enthusiasm from the left isn't translating to DNC funds.

"There is no doubt this was a big moment for Democrats in this district. Why is the DNC having a tough time fundraising?" he asked.

A week ago, the Washington Post even posted a fact check of Perez for falsely claiming the DNC's January was the best in its history. In reality, the DNC had a better January as recently as 2014.

Perez painted a rosy picture to Baier.

"We raised more money last year, Bret, then 2015, 2013. When I came in, we were basically shut down. I didn't get there until roughly the first of March," Perez said.

Baier then showed a graphic comparing the DNC's and RNC's January 2018 fundraising and 2017 year-end fundraising.

It didn't paint a good picture for the Democrats on any metric, with Democrats having 20 percent less cash than Republicans.

"The RNC has richer donors. We raise money from the grassroots," Perez said.

Then, he told Baier that the RNC out-raised the DNC two-to-one in 2005, a year before Democrats won a large House majority.

"I  think we are winning because, frankly, while the Republican National Committee outraises us, they are morally bankrupt," Perez said, mentioning that the RNC donated to Republican Roy Moore's Senate campaign.

He finished by arguing that while the RNC is spending money on Trump's legal defense fund, Democrats are spending their money on organizing.

Published under: DNC , RNC , Tom Perez