Campaign finance reports: MN DFL and Republican parties

The Minnesota DFL and Republican parties have filed their pre-primary reports showing fundraising and spending for the year.

The DFL Party, which started the year with $17,755 in the bank, raised $1.88 million in cash. As of July 19, the DFL spent $1.78 million and had $118,000 in the bank.

The Minnesota GOP started the year with $60,530 and raised $677,487, according to its pre-primary reports. The state Republican Party spent $724,000 and had $13,797 in the bank on July 19.

A major difference for the DFL was contributions from the House and Senate legislative caucuses. The DFL House Caucus gave $247,000 and the Senate DFL Caucus $508,000. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that allows corporations to spend directly out of their treasuries on political activities also appears to have had an impact on the Republican Party’s fundraising.

For purposes of comparison:

In 2008, a presidential election year when only the state House was on the ballot, the DFL Party raised $910,000 in the preprimary party that ended Aug. 18. The reports were filed later because the primary occurred in September prior to this year. The DFL spent $669,000 in that year’s preprimary report.

In 2006, the most recent election in which the House, Senate and governor were all up for election, the DFL Party raised $1.96 million and spent $1.8 million in its preprimary report for the period ending Aug. 21, 2006.

The Minnesota GOP in 2008 reported raising $648,000 in their preprimary report dated Aug. 18. In 2008 the GOP had spent $585,000 and had $170,000 in cash on hand, according to their preprimary report.
In 2006, the GOP raised $3.2 million in the preprimary period. They spent $2.88 million as of Aug. 21, 2006.