Republicans fighting to win a majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives have announced that they will report record fundraising numbers in their last campaign finance report before next month’s general election.
The campaign arm of the House Republican Caucus, known as the House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC), disclosed on Sunday that it has raised almost $2.7 million since the beginning of 2024. According to the HRCC, this amount is $800,000 more than its last record, from 2018, and represents “the largest full-cycle fundraising total in organization history.”
When combining the organization’s fundraising numbers from 2023 and 2024, the HRCC has raised over $3.7 million.
“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” said Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, the House Republican Leader.
“House Republicans are on offense across the state, setting all-time records for doorknocking, fundraising, and Independent Expenditures,” said Demuth. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule that resulted in billions in tax increases on families, record amounts of fraud in our state agencies, and crushing regulations and mandates that have harmed our schools and Main Street businesses.”
Democrats have controlled the Minnesota House since winning a majority in the 2018 elections. Currently, the Democrats have a 70-64 majority. Should Republicans win just four seats, they would win a majority and Demuth would likely be the next speaker of the Minnesota House.
While the GOP’s fundraising totals are a record, the DFL still outspends the Republicans by significant margins.
The latest campaign finance report from House DFL Caucus’ campaign arm says the DFL group has raised over $9.1 million in 2024 alone. When including the money the organization raised in 2023, the DFL campaign arm has raised over $11.1 million in total this cycle.
Fundraising and spending from outside groups
Minnesota legislative races have also attracted the attention of many outside groups who are pouring millions of dollars into the state.
The Republican State Legislative Committee (RSLC), a national organization that works to win Republican majorities in state legislative chambers, announced a record investment into campaigns throughout the country. In total, the RSLC has announced that it will spend $44 million in state legislative races across the country this year.
The Minnesota House has been one of the RSLC’s target chambers this year.
Yesterday, the group announced that it will be running ads in the final days of the campaign opposing House Democrats Jeff Brand and Lucy Rehm. Both Brand and Rehm are incumbents who occupy toss-up districts. Their seats are viewed as must-win elections for the GOP to have a chance of gaining the House majority.
While the RSLC is working to flip the Minnesota House and win other legislative chambers, several left-wing groups have joined forces to far outspend the RSLC in the fight for legislative majorities.
According to a memo circulated by the RSLC, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, The States Project, and Forward Majority PAC have jointly invested $175 million into legislative races across the country. The three left-wing organizations are all targeting Minnesota legislative races.
Earlier this month, Alpha News reported on a campaign finance complaint which alleged that a mailer with false information was sent out by a local affiliate of Forward Majority PAC. That complaint said the mailer outright lied about a Minnesota GOP candidate’s position on in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
