Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann said he isn’t discouraged by his opponent’s significant fundraising advantage and believes the 2022 election showed it’s the ideas that ultimately win over voters.
Democrats took total control of state government in November’s election, reclaiming the Minnesota Senate from Republicans and holding on to the House and governorship.
Hann said the DFL relies on wealthy donors like George Soros and Alida Messinger as well as trade unions. The GOP raised more money from “ordinary citizens in Minnesota,” Hann commented.
State donations under $200 to the Minnesota GOP made up 31% of their contributions, while for the DFL, only 0.00047% were under $200, a recent report from the Center of the American Experiment found.
Hann said that despite not having the same infrastructure and fundraising as the DFL, the GOP came very close to winning the House and Senate majority, losing by just a few hundred votes in key races.
“When you look at what they spent versus what we spent, you need to look at how many votes they actually received in return for the amount of money they spent,” he said. He pointed out that while Democrats spent over $35 million on the election, they received 193,000 more votes than the Republican candidate for governor.
Federal receipts (including 2021 and 2022):
- GOP: $5.1 million
- DFL: $16.9 million
State receipts:
- DFL 2022: $23.8 million
- DFL 2021: $3.7 million
- GOP 2022: $1.3 million
- GOP 2021: $341,000
Hann said that while money is essential in campaigns, there is not always a direct connection between how much money is raised and who wins. He argued that Democrats spent a large amount of money to gain a relatively small number of votes. This shows that it’s the ideas that ultimately win elections, he said.
Hann, who was reelected to a second term in December, also criticized the source of the DFL’s funds, which he believes impacts their legislation.
He pointed to education as an example, noting that Education Minnesota was one of the largest donors to the DFL last year at $1.5 million. In turn, the union ends up receiving large amounts of public money for salaries and benefits for their members, Hann said. He described this as a “corrupt arrangement.”
The GOP is going to be focused on raising more money, building party infrastructure, and organizing local units to campaign in targeted races, Hann said.
“We don’t have to raise $36 million to win,” Hann said.
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
