There are four major themes in the data, according to an Electing Women Research analysis of pre-general fundraising totals, large-dollar itemized contributions from campaigns (>$200), and ActBlue/WinRed small-dollar itemized contributions (under $200):
1. The higher the donation threshold in individual contributions, the wider the gender gap. The gender gap starts to disappear when looking at small-dollar Democratic donations.
- For large donors giving individual contributions to candidates Democratic women donors gave $0.85 on the dollar compared to Democratic male donors on average. The gender gap is due to fewer Democratic large-dollar women donors giving compared to their male counterparts.
- However, the lower the contribution threshold, the closer Democrats get to gender parity in donations. From the ActBlue data we’ve seen this cycle, Democratic women donors make up over half of small-dollar Democratic donors and over half of small-dollar contributions going to candidates’ PACs.
- For small donors giving individual contributions to candidates – Democratic women donors gave $0.97 on the dollar compared to Democratic male donors on average. There were more Democratic small-dollar women donors giving this cycle compared to their male counterparts, which made up for the slight per-dollar-average giving gap in small donations.
- While large-dollar contributions still make up the majority of individual contributions, we saw a bump in small donors giving to Democratic candidates after the Dobbs decision.
2. The flush of late outside spending by Republican billionaire mega-donors is at a crossroads with heightened Democratic individual contributions in Senate races.
- We’ve seen a major crossroad this cycle when looking at campaign finance patterns – a stream of individual contributions going to competitive Democratic senate campaigns and a flush of late outside spending by Republican mega-donors for Republican candidates.
3. Democratic women candidates in competitive elections get a higher portion of their itemized individual contributions from women donors compared to their male counterparts.
- Democratic women donors on average made up 43% of Democratic women candidates’ itemized individual contributions in competitive elections using Cook Political Report’s ratings as of 11/4. On the other hand, Democratic women donors on average made up 37% of their Democratic male counterparts’ itemized individual contributions.
- Both are substantially higher than their Republican competitors. On average, Republican women donors make up 27% of the itemized contributions for both Republican men and women running in competitive elections.
4. Democratic women donors are still being outraised by male donors in all money going into the election through the pre-general October 28th deadline.
- Although Democratic individual donors raised more than their Republican counterparts as of the pre-general October 28th, 2022, deadline, looking at all $200+ contributions going into the cycle, there is still a steep gender gap in the total donations in the cycle. Democratic women donors made up 39% of the total $200+ Democratic contributions going into the cycle at $591.4 million, according to an Electing Women Research analysis of all $200+ contributions going into this cycle. This is the lowest proportion we’ve seen since the 2014 midterms.