HOUSE REPUBLICANS MAINTAIN MAJORITY

TO: INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: ROB SIMMS, NRCC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DATE: NOVEMBER 10, 2016
SUBJECT: HOUSE REPUBLICANS MAINTAIN MAJORITY

Last night’s election results represented a resounding victory for House Republicans, as voters once again send a strong Republican majority to represent them in Congress. Victories like last night are no accident. They are the culmination of years of hard work and dedication by our Republican members, as well as the NRCC staff.

Early Preparation

 Preparations for our victory last night began immediately following the 2014 election. The NRCC identified those new and returning members of the House Republican Conference likely to face close races in 2016, and worked with them through our Patriot Program to begin building the infrastructure needed to ensure victory. Those members went to work on the issues important to their districts, passing legislation aimed at making their constituents’ lives better.

At the same time, through our Young Guns program, the NRCC worked to identify and provide support to strong candidates for Open and Democrat-held seats. Our Young Guns program had another successful cycle, adding at least nine new Republican members to our Conference.

 Fundraising

 The NRCC shattered fundraising records this cycle, eclipsing $150 million, a $7 million increase from the 2014 and 2012 cycles.

Key to our fundraising efforts was the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan, who transferred a record $42,662,370 to the committee, and NRCC Chairman Greg Walden, who raised and transferred over $4 million during the 2016 cycle. Beyond his financial contributions, Chairman Walden was relentless in his efforts for the committee, traveling 254,000 miles in his four years heading the committee, the equivalent of ten trips around the world, spending 281 nights on the road and hitting 40 states.

Our traditional fundraising was supplemented by an extremely robust digital operation. The NRCC’s Digital Department raised $12 million for 2016, an improvement of more than 60% over last cycle.

Our record-breaking fundraising allowed us to spend $90.3 million in direct support of our candidates, including $85.8 million from September 1 through Election Day. This spending included 145 unique television ads aired by our Independent Expenditure Unit across nearly 30 congressional districts.

Data-Driven Campaign

 The committee invested early in our data operation, doubling our data infrastructure compared to 2014. This investment paid dividends as it enabled us to give campaigns the information needed to engage voters, which was vital to win their races in both the persuasion and Get Out the Vote phases of the campaign. In all, our team made nearly 2.7 million voter engagements across 33 congressional districts.

Our data operation was boosted by information provided by the NRCC Polling Department, which spent $5 million in 30+ congressional districts, conducting 292 surveys and focus groups. These surveys proved to be among the most accurate in the country in this unpredictable election, enabling us to respond to movement in the polls, and focus our resources on those congressional districts where the results would be closest.

Local Campaigns

While Democrats ran a one-size-fits-all national campaign, our members and candidates ran strong races, focused on the issues important to local constituents. These efforts were recognized and rewarded by voters who returned a strong Republican majority to the House in 2017.

Republicans were successful in districts across the country, in both red and blue states, including winning in 21 districts that voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

Conclusion

House Republicans’ successful 2016 cycle was the result of years of hard work. From record setting fundraising, to a strong, data-driven campaign, the NRCC helped our members and candidates to position themselves to win.