Republicans continue to capitalize on ‘McCutcheon’ ruling

Introduction

The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a second super-sized joint fundraising committee — one that wouldn’t have been legal prior to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision — to funnel cash toward GOP candidates running in some of the nation’s most hotly contested House races.

The new jumbo joint fundraising committee, formally known as Young Guns Day II 2014, will serve as a fundraising conduit for the NRCC and 11 GOP candidates who were recently named to the top tier party’s “Young Guns” program, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

These 11 Republican candidates are:

• Dan Logue in California’s 3rd Congressional District
• Doug Ose in California’s 7th Congressional District
• Jeff Gorell in California’s 26th Congressional District
• Brian Nestande in California’s 36th Congressional District
• Carl DeMaio in California’s 52nd Congressional District
• Rick W. Allen in Georgia’s 12th Congressional District
• Darlene Senger in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District
• Bobby Schilling in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District
• Tom MacArthur in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District
• Pedro Celis in Washington’s 1st Congressional District
• Alex Mooney in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District

The “Young Guns” program was founded during the 2008 cycle by Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va.; Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; and Paul Ryan, R-Wis. It assists challengers and candidates for open seat House races who have met certain fundraising goals.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ruling earlier this year, individual donors could not contribute the legal maximum to more than nine candidates. Now, in the post-McCutcheon era, there is no limit, and the Republican Party has been swift to create new committees designed to take advantage of the new rules.

The Young Guns Day II 2014 committee ranks as the sixth jumbo joint fundraising committee that Republicans have created since the McCuthcheon ruling.

Democrats, to date, have not created any new super-sized joint fundraising committees, though smaller joint fundraising committees are widespread and have existed for years.

The other super-sized Republican fundraising groups are the Republican Victory Fund, the 2014 Senators Classic Committee, the Patriot Day III 2014 committee, the Young Guns Day I 2014 committee and the Founders Senate Candidate Committee.

While the Supreme Court struck down the so-called “aggregate limits” on campaign contributions in its McCutcheon ruling, individual donors must still abide by “base” limits.

That means a person cannot donate more than $5,200 to any one candidate for his or her primary and general election campaigns or more than $32,400 per year to any one national party committee such as the NRCC.