Donald Trump's legal problems are starving state Republican parties of much-needed campaign cash.
A growing number of state GOP operations are nearly broke — or are already bust — and the former president's takeover of the Republican National Committee requires the party to run its donations through his Save America PAC, which spent more than $50 million on Trump's legal fees last year, wrote Democratic strategist Max Burns for MSNBC.
"Republican Party chairs know from Democrats’ past examples that starved state operations lead to electoral blowouts at the ballot box," Burns wrote. "But the Republican National Committee isn’t coming to the rescue with a fire hose of cash, and that gives Democrats a clear roadmap for capitalizing on the GOP’s historic weakness this November."
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The Democratic National Committee found that out the hard way when Barack Obama effectively replaced their fundraising operations after his 2008 election win with his own Obama for America/Organizing for Action campaign operation, which directed money toward his re-election campaign and certain legislative races.
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"After a period of growth under [Howard] Dean’s '50 State Strategy,' the OFA era saw Democrats lose over a dozen governorships as cash-strapped state parties struggled to build local infrastructure," Burns wrote. "They also saw their control of critical state legislatures slashed by more than half, from 27 to just 13. Some of those lost legislatures are responsible for enacting many of the most extreme anti-abortion laws we’ve seen in the post-Roe v. Wade era."
That lack of investment cost Democrats for nearly two decades in state-level races, and now Republicans find themselves heading down that same path with Trump gobbling up much of the RNC's fundraising to pay his lawyers and alienating longtime GOP donors who don't want to pay for his criminal defense, Burns said.
"After years watching well-funded Republicans seize power in the states, Democrats finally have the financial clout to put up an even fight or better," Burns wrote. "This year’s marquee races will likely be decided by fractions of a percentage point, and targeted advertising is primed to play a more important role than ever. Republicans chose an awful time to go broke."
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