WinRed Sets Fundraising Record

GOP fundraising platform boosted Garcia's Calif. upset

WinRed, the GOP's digital fundraising platform, raised nearly $60 million in April, funneling more than $500,000 toward a Republican victory in a California congressional race widely seen as a bellwether for November.

WinRed raised $59.8 million from more than 1.6 million small donations in April, the largest monthly haul in its 10-month history, according to Axios. Those efforts helped steer $503,087 to former Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia, who became the first California Republican to flip a seat from the Democrats since 1998. Garcia won the race to replace disgraced "throuple" congresswoman Katie Hill by double digits, despite the fact that the suburban district has 30,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

Republicans launched WinRed in June 2019 to compete with ActBlue, an online fundraising platform that has funneled millions of small donations to Democratic campaigns since 2004. WinRed has since played a major role in fundraising, particularly in special elections. In September 2019, it raised more than $300,000 for Rep. Dan Bishop's successful campaign in a closely watched North Carolina special election. WinRed fundraising figures have continued to grow since then, helping to close the gap between Republican and Democratic grassroots fundraising efforts.

An effort to unite the party behind the platform remains a work in progress. Republicans who oppose the president, including his primary rivals Joe Walsh and Bill Weld and upstart candidate Justin Amash, continue to use a different platform called Anedot.

Donations made through WinRed played a major role in Tuesday's special election win, with money that flowed through the platform contributing to Garcia's victory. Well-known Republicans with a proven donor base—such as Reps. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Dan Crenshaw (Texas)—used the platform to raise $245,498 for Garcia, or nearly half of the WinRed donations to the California Republican.

More