Trump’s most strident House 'exhibitionists' are spending more than they’re bringing in: report

In the 2022 midterms, a long list of far-right House Republicans — from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina to Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado — are running for reelection. And if Republicans regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives as many pundits are predicting, extremists like Greene and Boebert, assuming they are reelected, will be part of the House’s majority party. But the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger, in an article published on April 20, reports that some of Trump’s most strident “exhibitionists” in the U.S. House have been underperforming from a fundraising standpoint in 2022.

“Last year, it was a fundraising feast for the MAGA Goon Squad,” Sollenberger explains. “But in 2022, without the donor stimulus of an attempted insurrection, things are going in the wrong direction. The first three months of the year took more than $275,000 combined out of the pockets of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — the foursome of America First, Donald Trump-loving, exhibitionist election objectors. All told, it was their worst showing to date.”

Sollenberger continues, “It wasn’t always like this. In 2021, that crew saw eye-popping returns, stacking up a combined year-over-year gain of $4.8 million. The only one who showed a net loss on the year was Gaetz, whose campaign account shed $95,000 amid a drumroll of bombshell headlines and steep costs related to an ongoing child sex trafficking investigation. Still, the post-insurrection fundraising ground was so fertile that even he posted record fundraising hauls, taking in $3.2 million in the first half of 2021.”

Greene’s 2022 reelection campaign, according to Sollenberger, is spending more money than it’s bringing in.

“The campaign that led the way last year has also done the most damage this year,” Sollenberger observes. “That distinction would go to the Greene campaign, which, after banking $5.2 million last year, kicked off 2022 with a $3 million haul. While stunning, that total didn’t outstrip the record spending that ultimately left her $314,000 in the hole. It was Greene’s first negative fundraising return since she was elected.”

Sollenberger notes that Boebert “hasn’t turned in a quarterly loss,” but Gaetz and Cawthorn have. And even Boebert’s “quarter’s totals represented her smallest gains by far,” according to Sollenberger.

“The Gaetz campaign took a bath in both the second and third quarter last year, and Cawthorn hasn’t bulked up since his million-dollar fundraising spree on the heels of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol,” Sollenberger writes. “After losing another $41,300 since January, the Cawthorn campaign only holds about $282,000 — a little more than half its stash this time last year. And he’s sapped whatever firepower he might hold in his other committees, in the process rankling potential allies.”