Port: North Dakota Democrats in tough financial shape as election year looms

MINOT — There is chaos in the North Dakota Republican Party. Power struggles and in-fighting between traditional conservatives and an upstart faction of Donald Trump-aligned populists are tearing the party apart.

Party chair Sandi Sanford,

elected in no small part due to that chaos,

is proving to be a less-than-effective leader. The party’s

fundraising has suffered,

key staff has abandoned ship

and the party’s new executive director

is a misogynistic cartoon character.

This would seem to present an opportunity for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. At nearly rock bottom in terms of holding elected offices in our state, they really have nowhere to go but up, and the chaos in the NDGOP could be a ladder for them. But if the party is building momentum heading into what could be a tumultuous election year, it’s not showing up as dollars and cents.

Over the last two years, the party’s finances have plummeted, with its cash on hand, as reported in monthly reports to the Federal Election Commission, bottoming out this summer at a level that’s roughly half of the party’s monthly spend on staff and other expenses.

The Dem-NPL got an infusion of cash — a bailout, you could say — from the Democratic National Committee in September, but that only casts the party’s paltry fundraising in a sharper light. Of the just over $38,000 the state party

raised in the September reporting period,

$25,000 came from the DNC. The party raised just a bit more than $13,000 on its own, less than half the $30,267.44 in expenditures it reported for the month.

It’s not unusual for state political parties to see their cash reserves take a hit during non-election years. Americans are most engaged with politics and most willing to open their wallets and make a donation during campaign years. The parties themselves are also far more active in fundraising during election years.

But the roughly $53,000 in cash on hand the Democratic-NPL reported in September was less than half what it reported in cash on hand at this same point in the last election cycle, even with the bailout from the DNC.

I asked Dem-NPL chair Adam Goldwyn about the state of his party’s finances, and he suggested this represents a shift in tactics. “The Democratic-NPL is going to contest every race up and down the ballot and all across the state, and that is the basis for our financial model,” he told me. “Our fundraising is meant to empower local leaders running to represent their neighbors rather than a central state party.”

That might make sense if the Democratic-NPL had active candidates, but it doesn’t. Not outside of U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen,

who has restarted her unsuccessful campaign from last cycle

for an early jump on the 2024 election, and she just reopened her campaign earlier this month.

I also asked Goldwyn about some recent staff changes made at the party, which I’ve been told by some Dem-NPL party members were related to fundraising difficulties. He didn’t have much to offer in the way of specifics.

“The Democratic-NPL is always evaluating and reevaluating staffing needs to put us in the best position to be competitive across the state,” he said. “Staffing changes are a normal part of the ebb and flow of campaign cycles, especially now as we gear up to reelect President Biden and bring balance to the state Legislature.”

It’s hard to say what’s causing the downturn in fundraising for the Democratic-NPL.

Maybe some donors are disillusioned after the last cycle, which saw Dem-NPL bigwigs

push out the party’s endorsed and nominated U.S. House candidate

in favor of late-to-the-game celebrity candidate Cara Mund, a former Miss America.

Maybe the paltry fundraising has to do with staff issues.

Whatever the case, I don’t buy Goldwyn’s spin about the refocus on campaigns. With the NDGOP looking more vulnerable than it has in a generation, you’d expect the Dem-NPL to be on top of its game and ready to provide stiff competition next year.

They’re not, and insofar as competition is good for democracy, that’s not a good sign for North Dakota.