--- title: Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record description: In the first 5 months of 2017, the Democratic Congressional Committee raised $20 million in online contributions. canonical: https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-18T15:18:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:00:02.185Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record og:description: They've raised more money online so far this year than in all of 2015. og:url: https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6262ba0baac542fb/6988bc7ffb4eac4a76890f37/nancy-pelosi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1890 og:image:height: 1063 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Delivers Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record twitter:description: They've raised more money online so far this year than in all of 2015. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6262ba0baac542fb/6988bc7ffb4eac4a76890f37/nancy-pelosi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 18, 2017 3:18 PM UTC  Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi arrive to a joint session of the U.S. Congress with President Trump on Feb. 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi arrive to a joint session of the U.S. Congress with President Trump on Feb. 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 18, 2017 3:18 PM UTC Congressional Democrats have seen a hefty fundraising boost during the early months of the Trump Administration. In the first five months of 2017, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [raised $20 million](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/democrats-vs-trump/house-dems-smash-fundraising-records-ahead-midterms-n761466) in online contributions, more money than it did online in all of 2015, when it raised $19.7 million. There have been 156,000 first time donors since Jan. 1, and the average gift has been $18, the DCCC confirmed to TIME. “People are sick and tired of out-of-touch House Republicans who are giddy at the prospect of ripping health insurance away from their constituents but too incompetent to get anything done on behalf hardworking Americans. Our record smashing grassroots, online fundraising haul is further evidence that [House Democrat](http://time.com/4688181/nancy-pelosi-jeff-sessions-russia-resign/)s are on offense while Republicans are in a full meltdown,” said DCCC spokesman Tyler Law. The DCCC’s counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee said it raised $46 million total in 2017 so far, and raised more in the first quarter of 2017 than in 2015, but said it doesn’t break out small dollar donations. The DCCC’s fundraising numbers are just one of several instances where Democrats have raised money since Trump’s election. In the special election to fill former Rep. Tom Price’s seat, [Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff](http://time.com/4761144/republicans-obama-clinton-nancy-pelosi/) raised a record $8.3 million, the [_Atlanta-Journal Constitution_ ](http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/04/05/jon-ossoff-nets-record-fundraising-haul-in-6th-district-race/)reports. And on Monday, former Democratic presidential candidate [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4779880/hillary-clinton-onward-together-pac-african-proverb/) announced she was launching a PAC titled “Onward Together” to help fund liberal causes and politicians. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/"},"headline":"Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record","datePublished":"2017-05-18T15:18:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:00:02.185Z","description":"In the first 5 months of 2017, the Democratic Congressional Committee raised $20 million in online contributions.","url":"https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/","keywords":["Campaign Finance","democrats","Congress","politics","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6262ba0baac542fb/6988bc7ffb4eac4a76890f37/nancy-pelosi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6262ba0baac542fb/6988bc7ffb4eac4a76890f37/nancy-pelosi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Delivers Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"Donald Trump Delivers Address To Joint Session Of Congress","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/campaign-finance/","name":"Campaign Finance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4784229/campaign-finance-democrats-online/","name":"Congressional Democrats Smash Online Fundraising Record"}}]}] ```