Republicans are getting antsy that President Donald Trump‘s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has not coughed up the $400 million stored in its coffers with House and Senate majorities expected to be decided at the margins this November.
Trump’s political orbit has said time and time again that it will unload its deep pockets to help Republicans defend narrow congressional majorities in the midterm elections. The surplus is an unprecedented amount of money for a party to have in addition to the principal party committees and leadership-aligned super PACs.
But, so far, that money remains in the bank.
“There’s a lot of frustration in the Republican political circles,” one GOP strategist told the Washington Examiner. “Everyone is annoyed.”
Another Republican strategist agreed, “I don’t think there’s any secret that people are frustrated.”
Some Republicans are so concerned that they think MAGA Inc. spending its money after Labor Day, traditionally considered the start of the fall campaign season, may be too late to turn around polling that indicates many GOP candidates may be upset by their Democratic opponents in November’s midterm elections.
Almost two months before the Nov. 3 contests that will determine the closing two-year chapter of Trump’s second administration, Democrats have an average 6-percentage-point edge over Republicans in generic congressional ballot polling, according to RealClearPolitics.
Those numbers have Republicans nervous, despite the GOP having a multimillion-dollar advantage over Democrats.
Other Republican strategists defended MAGA Inc.’s strategy, contending the electoral map is changing quickly.
“Yeah, there are some people grumbling — and it’s mostly the consultants who think their race is already slipping away,” one strategist told the Washington Examiner. “When you look at the 2018 campaign, there were campaigns who had super PAC reservations laid in mid-September through Election Day and it made them feel good that ‘the calvary’ was on its way. But guess what? Because of the environment, those reservations were canceled and moved to that second and third tier of races.”
The strategist added that MAGA Inc. “isn’t sitting this out,” arguing the group is “making sure that when [it] place[s] buys they are significant, serious, and that they are confident that they will be able to move numbers.”
A second strategist disagreed that MAGA Inc. spending money after Labor Day is “not too late at all.”
“It’s coming,” the source said. “Soon.”
To that end, MAGA Inc. doled out $828,000 to support Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) in her Republican special primary election runoff to replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, over Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) in South Carolina last month.
Vice President JD Vance also deployed for his first public MAGA Inc. rally this week, a small event in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
And the PAC’s nonprofit arm reserved $1 million in national television ads starting tomorrow, according to nonprofit tracking firm AdImpact.
But that has not appeased all Republicans, with one GOP strategist quipping, “‘Better late than never’ is the collective thinking.”
Republican donors also told Politico members of the GOP are predicting MAGA Inc., technically separate from Trump and the White House, is “not going to spend anything but a slice of it.”
“It’s never too late but the president and his team are sledding way uphill this late in the year,” a second donor told the outlet.
Regardless of the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee spending $442 million so far this cycle, the frustration with MAGA Inc. has rolled over to other GOP-aligned groups that pledged to invest in elections but have not.
For example, MAHA PAC, a group aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has similarly upset Republicans with its apparent empty promise in March to spend $100 million.
MAHA PAC has only raised $2.4 million since the announcement and only has about $287,000 cash on hand, according to campaign finance disclosure documents.
“These guys promised GOP candidates $100 million in air cover and haven’t spent a dime trying to beat Democrats,” one Republican strategist told the Washington Examiner.
Meanwhile, MAGA Inc. has implored Republicans to remain calm, given the RNC had $130 million to the Democratic National Committee’s $16 million while the DNC remained saddled with $18 million of debt.
“While MAGA Inc. is committed to retaining and building the GOP majorities in the House and Senate, we are not in the habit of sharing our battle plans,” MAGA Inc. spokesman Alex Pfeiffer told the Washington Examiner.
“We have full confidence they will spend in the right places,” another Republican strategist concurred. “Anyone who is panicking [doesn’t] know what they’re talking about.”
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A third strategist reiterated that “no one pays attention until after Labor Day,” that “campaigns are won in last few weeks before Election Day,” and “spending money now is inefficient.”
“It’s not too late,” a fourth strategist said in a text message. “That’s when most ppl start airing ads anyways.”