Money is starting to trickle out of President Donald Trump’s super PAC. But as September begins, GOP donors and other Republicans say it should be gushing.
MAGA Inc. sent Vice President JD Vance to Michigan on Monday for GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers. And it spent more than $827,000 to boost Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina.
But that’s not nearly enough to placate Republicans, according to seven GOP donors and fundraisers, granted anonymity to discuss party dynamics, who told POLITICO they want to see much more money sent out from the PAC, which has a $400 million war chest.
The concern comes even as Republicans maintain a large financial advantage over Democrats. But with the president’s poll numbers near record lows and Democratic voters appearing more enthused, GOP donors believe no resource should go untapped.
“Our threat level should be up and people are going to have an expectation that you deploy all your resources,” one GOP donor said. “He’s sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, not doing that. We’re in September.”
MAGA Inc. isn’t directly controlled by the president or the White House and super PACs are supposed to operate independently, but candidates, including Trump, often have significant sway over the organizations.
The super PAC raised $3 millionin July and $18 millionin June. But there hasn’t been a commitment from Trump’s team about how much will actually be spent on this midterm cycle, and where, raising questions over how much money will be spent at all.
“Oh my God, it’s September – this guy is not going to spend the money,” said a Trump fundraiser and former administration official.
A second GOP donor cautioned that it’s hard to move voters after Labor Day.
“It’s never too late but the president and his team are sledding way uphill this late in the year,” the second donor said.
“I think most people think he’s not going to spend anything but a slice of it. This is for him, this is for his purposes,” the person said. “It’s not about getting other Republicans elected. He doesn’t care about that.”
The White House has dismissed prior concerns that the war chest will be spent on a presidential library or legal fees, but those worries linger among donors who say there hasn’t been enough evidence otherwise.
The super PAC, for its part, isn’t telegraphing its spending.
“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,” said MAGA Inc. spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer.
James Blair, Trump’s chief political director, said in June that money would be spent but wouldn’t telegraph a timeline, amount, or plan for targeting specific states. And, Trump said in an interview withPunchbowl News in August that MAGA Inc. will spend in the midterms, adding, “I’m going to help Republicans.”
And, some Republicans view the money spent to help Graham as an indication that more fulsome spending will start soon, according to a person close to the MAGA Inc. organization.
“It sounds like this is the beginning of the floodgates opening,” the person said.
One 2024 MAGA Inc. donor said it’s “absolutely not” too late for the president to reach undecided voters ahead of the midterms, adding, “don’t be surprised if at the last minute, 12th hour, that you start to see a lot of of ads running just to get those undecideds.”
Still, other donors want to see more spent, and fast, to defend the majority.
The money spent so far has “been primarily used to attack other Republicans” a third donor said. (Rogers is the chief outlier.)
The money used to boost Graham, which was spent to beat Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) in a primary run off in August, was the only spending on a candidate since MAGA Inc. doled out $17,900.88 to support Rep. Clay Fuller’s campaign for his House seat in Georgia in March and $560,000 to MAGA KY, which supported Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) challenger in May’s race.
“But there are many House and Senate races where Republicans are fighting for their lives against well-funded Democratic challengers where additional support from the president’s super PAC could make the difference between Republicans being in the minority or majority next year,” the third donor said.
Republican donors told POLITICO earlier this month that Trump bears the responsibility to finance GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton campaign in Texas, with whatever is needed to keep the state from flipping. Paxton, according to the polls, is essentially in a dead heat with Democrat James Talarico. Trump endorsed Paxton just before his runoff in May against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who the GOP establishment deemed more likely to win in what has been a safe red state.
“We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Fox News on Sunday. “I’m hoping that the president’s going to spend $100 or $200 million in Texas but he hasn’t committed to it yet.”
Trump on Thursday, before leaving for Houston, told reporters, “I’m going to help Ken Paxton. I’m going to spend a lot of time in Texas.”
But the PAC hasn’t doled out money for Paxton, either.
How – or whether – MAGA Inc. spends its money could have implications beyond the 2026 race. If a good chunk of the over $400 million MAGA Inc. money isn’t spent, it will send up warning signs to donors in the future against supporting candidates like Vance, one GOP fundraiser argued.
For now, donors have no choice but to trust that MAGA Inc. spending will pick up, the person said. It “certainly will not help Vance in the future if coffers are not emptied” because the “lost goodwill” will make it trickier for him to fundraise.
Jessica Piper contributed to this report.
