"The Republican National Committee -- and some embattled state parties -- are dragging behind previous election cycles in fundraising weeks before the first primary voting for president in 2024," UPI reports.
Ford School professor Richard Hall noted there are multiple reasons. "There's an awful lot of donors trying to make a tough choice. Do I go with someone I think is going to win, regardless of how much I like them - or someone I like, regardless of if they are going to win? I want to sit back and see who the viable candidates are," he said.
The Ford School's Jonathan Hanson said that since the 2020 presidential election, the Michigan Republican Party has been divided. On one side are what he describes as the "traditional" Republicans, and on the other are Republicans who follow Trump's example. Hanson said the party has become less transparent under the leadership of chair Kristina Karamo.
"What's happened with the takeover of the party by so-called MAGA extremists is traditional donors are sitting out," Hanson said. "They are not providing the typical level of support they normally do."
Regarding the finances of the national parties, Hall said that interpreting the reports from both parties is not as simple as making one-to-one comparisons.
"There's a number of different things happening," he said. "You have a noncompetitive presidential primary on one side and a competitive one on the other. You have a lot of members of both parties that are retiring. Fewer incumbents running means less fundraising going on."
