Despite a “tumultuous” 2024 cycle, Dan Conston — the president of the House GOP leadership’s super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) — is aiming for a triple crown this November: a third consecutive cycle of growing the ranks of House Republicans, which he’s done cycle after cycle, despite at-times lackluster Republican results elsewhere.
As the longtime head of CLF, Conston has gone from being completely counted out in 2020 — a cycle in which his organization notched some of the only GOP wins — to triumphant in 2022 — another cycle in which his organization was a rare bright spot for Republicans, helping to flip the House despite the failures of the “red wave” to materialize. This cycle, Conston aims to leverage his historically-successful fundraising efforts, alongside those of well-funded House candidates, to win as large a majority as possible for Republicans, even though he cautioned that next month will yield a “small majority or minority either way.”
“We did just have our biggest quarter ever, which I don’t think many people thought we would do, and we are still at an advantage over House Majority PAC with our 9/30 filings, so we feel like we’ve got the resources necessary to be really impactful,” Conston told the Washington Reporter in an extensive interview. “I think the best asset we had all cycle was that the people in the toughest districts, in these Biden districts, are impressive, meritorious, rising stars in the Republican Party. That is plainly evident to voters and donors alike. People want to invest in them.”
Conston’s CLF raised a record-breaking $81.4 million in the final full fundraising quarter of the cycle — but that success was far from a safe bet only a year ago, when all House Democrats — and a handful of House Republicans — ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, one of the GOP’s most successful fundraisers of all time. While future Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) hadn’t been heavily involved with CLF’s efforts prior to being thrust into the national spotlight, he kept Conston and his team on board, and CLF remained “incredibly focused on being low-drama, sticking to a plan that we knew would ultimately yield us results, and we made a really significant effort to get the Speaker engaged with and familiar with our donors,” Conston said.
“That was a two-way street,” however, Conston added. But Speaker Mike Johnson has been up for the task. “[It’s] unbelievable how much time and effort the Speaker has put in writ large, for hard dollars and for our efforts. He really put his life on hold, and he has been crisscrossing the country for a year. Our operation remained consistent, donors knew us, had comfortability with us, knew our product and our approach, and they have gotten to know the Speaker and really come to respect and like him. We’ve been able to keep raising at the levels that we wanted to.”
House Republicans ousting McCarthy wasn’t even the only — or most high-profile — political coup of the cycle. Republicans made no secret about their eagerness to run against an increasingly-infirm President Joe Biden in November, but the Democrats successfully and seamlessly swapped him with Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee. This move “definitely made it harder,” Conston said, “because Democrat turnout had the potential to be off…It is a double-edged sword, though. Had Biden remained the nominee, you probably would have seen even more money flow into the House and Senate.”
However, Harris is far from a political panacea for the Democrats. “Harris has certainly given Democrats a little bit more hope, because it got them off the floor in terms of turnout, but she comes with her own challenges for them: her record is abysmal, and she’s hiding in plain sight for an entire campaign.” Republicans, on the other hand, are running alongside President Donald Trump, who is “largely at his all-time most popular that he’s ever been,” Conston added.
While CLF’s fundraising efforts have defied expectations, a newly-rejuvenated Democratic Party has flooded incumbents and challengers from coast to coast with cash. “They are cash-flush all the way around,”Conston said.
However, CLF and its candidates have been working overtime to meet the moment. Conston views CLF’s district-specific ads and innovative buying strategy as keys to stretching the utility of every dollar his organization raises. But those aren’t the only tools in the box. “The other program that we really don’t talk about very much, that we’re proud of, and we think makes a big difference, is what we call our digital IE fundraising program, where we invest small dollars to promote candidates to small dollar Republican donors around the country,” he said. “As these small dollars engage, our candidates will raise $4 to $5 million more in hard dollars in major races because of our efforts.”
One of the changes that Republican candidates need to make in future election cycles is making sure that they have sufficient runway to compete with the left’s massive fundraising efforts. “For a top-tier Republican prospective candidate next cycle, in a top-tier race, they need to be looking early next year in a clear-eyed way about this as a two-year process, and they need to live on the phones, and I’m not sure how many approach running exactly that way,” Conston cautioned. “A lot of them get in a year out and raise $300,000 a quarter for a while. That does not work when Democratic candidates are raising $3 million in quarter three of the on-year.”
Conston singled out several GOP incumbents for praise. “Look at John James in Michigan, who’s raised a tremendous amount of money, and House Majority PAC has put in $7 million against him. Now, their candidate Carl Marlinga has no money to speak of, and they’re trying to make a race in one of the most cluttered markets in the country. And Rep. James, to his credit, has been able to put up close to 10,000 GRPs on Detroit broadcast this fall, because he established a really commanding financial position.”
Several others who are “doing what they need to do” include “Mike Lawler, for example, [who] continues to post $1.5 million quarters. Same with Michelle Steel, Juan Ciscomani. These are people who have established really impressive cash positions, and they’re all in tough races, because they’re always going to be in tough races. Then look at how Democrats aren’t even trying to beat incumbents like Brian Fitzpatrick or Young Kim” because of the work they’ve done. “Fitzpatrick is sitting in a Biden district, and they would be foolish to spend $1 against him. Young Kim is in a similar situation.”
Much of the House map will come down to races in New York and California. One of the trends Conston has seen first-hand since he took over CLF in 2019 is “a certain element of the states taking on their own political environment. You see it more in midterms, where these states all really have their own political environments. That’s generally not the case in a presidential. In this election, because so much of our map is in California and New York, and because Harris is underperforming and Trump is doing better, they do have a little bit of their own micro-environments.” This could play out to Republicans’ benefits as they defend incumbents like Lawler and D’Esposito in New York, as well as Reps. Mike Garcia and Steel in California, while also trying to oust Democrats like Rep. Pat Ryan in New York and flip Rep. Katie Porter’s open seat in California.
Despite the primacy that big blue states are playing in the battle for the House, Republicans are making plays into districts far bluer than Democrats are in their red counterparts. “Think about our map for a second,” Conston said. “Everyone talks about how our map is tight, and our map is very tight. We hold all sorts of seats that Biden won by double digits, or pretty close to that. On the other hand, where Democrats are ‘expanding’ the map, they’re expanding it into seats that Trump barely won, or won by a couple points, and they’re acting like it’s going into South Dakota.”
“Their ability to play in our territory is much more limited than our ability to play in their territory,” he said. “We just hold a lot more seats in their territory, which makes the fight for the House inevitably very close. It’ll be a tight election the whole way. You’re dealing with a lot of close races, on both offense and defense. The one guarantee is it’ll be a small majority or minority, either way. For the rest of the decade, I think you’re looking at very tight margins in the House.”
The best political environment and fundraising numbers are meaningless if they’re going to lackluster candidates. Recruitment has been at the forefront of GOP efforts for several cycles, and Conston singled out “Derrick Anderson, Alison Esposito, Austin Theriault, Gabe Evans in Colorado, Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina, Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie, and Tom Barrett” for praise. His expectations, however, are realistic. “We have a really solid recruiting class top to bottom, and we’re going to win a certain amount of offensive seats, and we will probably lose a certain amount of defensive seats. And there’s a group in the middle that we’ve just gotta win.”
With well under a month until the election, Conston is already thinking about what he needs to see on Election Day to know how things are going. “Some races that will be good tells are the New York seats, the open seats in Michigan, and Virginia. Virginia reports quickly. If we’re winning both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a great night. If we’re losing both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a very bad night, and I think that’ll tell you one way or the other.”
Conston’s advice for up-and-coming Republicans is that “whatever your job is, you want to be in a role that matters. When you’re in a big organization where you’re sort of stuck in the middle, you can get lost in the shuffle. Being in a place, wherever it is, where you are counted on, needed and held accountable. It makes you a heck of a lot better. You have to.”
Looking back on several successful cycles at CLF, Conston’s advice he wishes that he got in 2019 is simpler. “Have confidence that if you’re running the organization right, and your prospects are good, the resources will come.”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Congressional Leadership Fund president Dan Conston, lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
This is your third cycle running the show here at CLF, it seems like this has been unlike any of the others. Almost exactly a year ago, obviously, Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted by all House Democrats and a handful of House Republicans. Let’s start with that. How did you keep a steady hand on the rudder here, and how did you integrate with a new guy, Mike Johnson, who you hadn’t necessarily worked with all the time for the past four and a half years before that?
Dan Conston:
Obviously this has been a unique cycle, and it’s been tumultuous at times. I think no one expected that we would be able to keep raising the sums that we had after Kevin, and while it was a tremendous loss to lose Kevin as Speaker, we’ve worked incredibly hard to perform at the same level that we always have. While we were going through that, in the months after, we were incredibly focused on being low-drama, sticking to a plan that we knew would ultimately yield us results, and we made a really significant effort to get the Speaker engaged with and familiar with our donors. I will say, that was a two-way street. The Speaker has been unbelievable in how much time and effort he has put in writ large, for hard dollars and for our efforts. He really put his life on hold, and he has been crisscrossing the country for a year. Our operation remained consistent, donors knew us, had comfortability with us, knew our product and our approach, and they have gotten to know the Speaker and really come to respect and like him. We’ve been able to keep raising at the levels that we wanted to.”
Washington Reporter:
You just had a stellar Q3. To that end, how have you been able to keep these donors engaged? Unlike in 2022, obviously you’re dealing with the potential for flipping the Senate, and a presidential election. How have you been able to say to donors that ‘despite some hiccups a year ago, we’re still a worthwhile investment’?
Dan Conston:
We did just have our biggest quarter ever, which I don’t think many people thought we would do, and we have a slight fundraising advantage over House Majority PAC with our 9/30 filings, so we’ve got the resources necessary to be really impactful. I think the best asset we had all cycle was that the people in the toughest districts, in these Biden districts, are impressive, meritorious, rising stars in the Republican Party. That is plainly evident to voters and donors alike. People want to invest in them. Post-redistricting, this map is so small that there was never a way where the House wouldn’t be tight or viable. Whether it’s the donor class, the voter class, or the pundit class, everyone gets that the difference of having a House majority or minority has profound implications for what the next two years look like. Unfortunately our politics has way too many consequences at this point, and everyone is looking around and saying, ‘you know what, I’ve got to do my part to save the country.’
Washington Reporter:
What are some of the ways that you’ve been able to, as a super PAC, stretch those dollars to the most effective way possible to maximize the value of donating to CLF, as opposed to any of the other many options out there?
Dan Conston:
We’re in our seventh cycle now, and CLF has established itself as the premier entity that spends efficiently, effectively, yields results, all of which has created donor trust. In terms of how we have continued to modernize, it’s a few things. One, the eye test. People can see the quality of your advertising. Unlike the Senate, in which you focus on six or seven races, in the House, we have to run individualized campaigns for 40 races. And yet, in each one of those, you can see the quality of the advertising. You can see the uniqueness of the arguments and the specialization throughout. So the eye test and the quality of the advertising matters. Two, we’ve modernized our buying every cycle. We are spending record amounts on streaming, including screen-agnostic buys. We’ve also invested immensely in data. The other program that we really don’t talk about very much, that we’re proud of, and we think makes a big difference, is what we call our digital IE fundraising program, where we invest small dollars to promote candidates to small dollar Republican donors around the country. As these small dollars engage, our candidates will raise $4 to $5 million more in hard dollars in major races because of our efforts. Every last hard dollar matters. We do not take the view that outside money can solve every one of these problems. We need well-funded hard dollar, well-funded soft dollar, and that’s generally how we’re going to win.
Washington Reporter:
There are still massive cash disparities between Republican and Democratic candidates on a candidate to candidate level, and you were just talking about one of the ways you’ve helped close that gap. What can Republican candidates do in 2026 and beyond to be able to shrink that gap? Obviously, there’s a donor culture on the left that plays to their advantage, but what other ways can Republicans continue leveling the playing field moving forward?
Dan Conston:
The committee and leadership writ large made getting hard dollars to our most important candidates a major priority, and you can see it in what our incumbents have. In many cases, they’ve established advantages over what Democratic incumbents in tough races have, and that is a quantum leap from before. The candidate side, on our end, continues to be harder, and candidates are probably getting in too late, and there’s not nearly enough runway. Not every candidate has the same quality of team, not every candidate has the same ability to prospect or to go out and understand what the expectations are for what they actually need to raise, whether that’s major donor money or small dollar money. What these Democrat candidates have amassed, they’re putting up $2.5, $3 million quarters. It’s unheard of. They are cash-flush all the way around. A lot of that is from JFCs and plenty is from ActBlue, but it is a reality.
For a top-tier Republican prospective candidate next cycle, in a top-tier race, they need to be looking early next year in a clear-eyed way about this as a two-year process, and they need to live on the phones, and I’m not sure how many approach running exactly that way. A lot of them get in a year out and raise $300,000 a quarter for a while. That does not work when Democratic candidates are raising $3 million in quarter three of the on-year.
Washington Reporter:
Who among House Republicans has been able to take their race off the map for Democrats because of what they’ve been able to do on the candidate side of raising money?
Dan Conston:
Look at John James in Michigan, who’s raised a tremendous amount of money, and House Majority PAC has put in $7 million against him. Now, their candidate Carl Marlinga has no money to speak of, and they’re trying to make a race in one of the most cluttered markets in the country. And Rep. James, to his credit, has been able to put up close to 10,000 GRPs on Detroit broadcast this fall, because he established a really commanding financial position. You look at a candidate like that, and that’s someone doing what they need to do. I look at freshmen in New York. Mike Lawler, for example, continues to post $1.5 million quarters. Same with Michelle Steel, Young Kim, and Juan Ciscomani raises very well. These are people who have established really impressive cash positions, and they’re all in tough races, because they’re always going to be in tough races. Then look at how Democrats aren’t even trying to beat incumbents like Brian Fitzpatrick or Young Kim.
Washington Reporter:
When it comes to the top of the ticket, the Democrats obviously had a little bit of chaos of their own, swapping Joe Biden with Kamala Harris. How did that change what you were trying to do here down-ballot? Or did it? I think conventional wisdom is it made it harder, but are there any ways that you found that it’s better to be running against Harris?
Dan Conston:
No, it definitely made it harder, because Democrat turnout had the potential to be off. Now, the one major thing that Democrats lost in losing Biden is that they were very likely to move to a check and balance message. A check and balance message would have been rather potent in suburban, high-college education districts, and that would have been a difficult dynamic for plenty of our members to face. Because in general, voters in the middle are very comfortable with divided government. It doesn’t mean that they necessarily split their tickets that way, but when faced with almost certain single-party rule one way or the other, there’s a little bit of a reversion. Harris has certainly given Democrats a little bit more hope, because it got them off the floor in terms of turnout, but she comes with her own challenges for them: her record is abysmal, and she’s hiding in plain sight for an entire campaign. It is a double-edged sword, though. Had Biden remained the nominee, you probably would have seen even more money flow into the House and Senate.
Washington Reporter:
On the Republican side, I think the only constant from every cycle that you’ve been here is Donald Trump. Obviously in 2020 you had COVID, in 2022 you have abortion. In 2024 you still have abortion, but how do you think his candidacy is playing out in 2024 as opposed to, or in similar ways, to in 2020 and 2022?
Dan Conston:
He’s largely at his all-time most popular that he’s ever been. And you can see in a lot of districts where maybe in 2020 in our surveys, there was a group of Republicans who would have voted for a Republican that weren’t saying they were voting for Trump in their surveys. Those voters are, by and large, all now punching a ticket for Trump in our surveys. There may well be a hidden vote beyond that, but he’s doing better in our target districts. There are a couple districts where we are certainly going to have to outrun him by some margin. But it’s fewer than it would have been in 2020.
Washington Reporter:
Do you think this is the final cycle Democrats are going to be so heavily prioritizing abortion? Thinking about all the ballot initiatives, are they going to have finally juiced every last possible voter on this issue, or is this just going to be the playbook for the next 10 years and beyond for them?
Dan Conston:
I think this will be the playbook until something changes in terms of legislation.
Domenic Re, CLF’s political director:
There is a real difference in the potency of Democrats’ abortion ads depending on the material they have on our candidates. A lot of times they are really stretching it. It isn’t credible and it strains believability.
Washington Reporter:
And is that reflected in actually what you think voters are responding to there, or are they going to still vote for the Democrat because of abortion, regardless of what the Republican’s position on the issue is?
Domenic Re:
I do think that it depends on the district and candidates, but makes it harder for voters to believe these abortion hits when they just try to shoehorn messaging on it against candidates who are not extreme on the issue.
Washington Reporter:
In the final month of this election, where do you see the battle for the House playing out? CLF has put out some polls recently showing serious momentum for Republicans. Should we be looking at suburban districts? Rural districts? Obviously there are some rural districts, like Jared Golden’s in Maine, that are squarely on the target list for the end of the election.
Domenic Re:
The battleground of the House map takes us to districts that are on every edge of the country, and every demographic. We’re in some of the most high-income suburbs, and then also in some very blue-collar rural places too. Maine, Alaska, the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. We really check every box here. Most of the map really comes down to two places, which is blue states like New York and California where we are mostly defending seats, and then mid-sized metros mostly in the Midwest, where we are on offense.
Washington Reporter:
The latter being something like Matt Cartwright’s district.
Domenic Re:
Ultimately, many of the races that will decide the majority are in places where we think the environment will be relatively favorable no matter what is occurring in other races up and down the ballot. A big one is because in both New York and California, voters are fed up with one-party rule in these places, and sometimes their House race is the only way that they can vote for a Republican. This is something we saw in 2022 and is continuing in polling this cycle. Not to mention the issue set in these districts is very favorable to us with no shortage of boogeymen like Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hochul for us to run against. In these more blue-collar, ancestrally Democrat districts, these are places that have been moving right before Trump, and when Trump came around, they started moving right even faster. So the vast majority in our map are in places that we have a lot of good issues to work with, and the political winds can be at our back.
Dan Conston:
You’re definitely seeing a certain element of the states taking on their own political environment. You see it more in midterms, where these states all really have their own political environments. That’s generally not the case in a presidential. In this election, because so much of our map is in California and New York, and because Harris is underperforming and Trump is doing better, they do have a little bit of their own micro-environments. And then in these presidential states, where it is so cluttered that so much of our chances, the Senate’s chances, the presidential chances, are all tied together.
Washington Reporter:
You mentioned Brian Fitzpatrick, but who are other both incumbents and challengers who have stood out to you this cycle, who have either moved the district, like an Allan Fung last cycle, from ‘we’re not even looking at this’ to ‘we’re going to go pretty heavily in on this’? Who has moved a district into contention or, like Fitzpatrick, basically taken it completely off the playing field, and Democrats aren’t even taking it seriously?
Dan Conston:
Fitzpatrick is sitting in a Biden district, and they would be foolish to spend $1 against him. Young Kim is in a similar situation. Think about our map for a second. Everyone talks about how our map is tight, and our map is very tight. We hold all sorts of seats that Biden won by double digits, or pretty close to that. On the other hand, where Democrats are ‘expanding’ the map, they’re expanding it into seats that Trump barely won, or won by a couple points, and they’re acting like it’s going into South Dakota. Their ability to play in our territory is much more limited than our ability to play in their territory. We just hold a lot more seats in their territory, which makes the fight for the House inevitably very close. It’ll be a tight election the whole way. You’re dealing with a lot of close races, on both offense and defense. The one guarantee is it’ll be a small majority or minority, either way. For the rest of the decade, I think you’re looking at very tight margins in the House.
Washington Reporter:
Every cycle you talk about candidate recruitment and how you place a priority on that. Who stood out to you as, ‘these guys are already rock stars’ or ‘these guys are going to be rock stars after November’?
Dan Conston:
There’s quite a few good candidates. Look at Derrick Anderson, Alison Esposito, Austin Theriault, Gabe Evans in Colorado, Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina, Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie, and Tom Barrett. We have a really solid recruiting class top to bottom, and we’re going to win a certain amount of offensive seats, and we will probably lose a certain amount of defensive seats. And there’s a group in the middle that we’ve just gotta win.
Washington Reporter:
What do you think the events of October 7 last year portend for Jewish American voting patterns this year and beyond?
Dan Conston:
I think you’ll see a shift in the Jewish community. Historically, Republicans have been making inroads with Jewish men aged 18 to 50, and it was a brick wall amongst seniors and most women. If we see a 10-point shift that’s pretty historic. And I believe that’s possible, and it really depends on where. The amount of single issue Israel voters has probably climbed a bit. But it’s more than single-issue Israel voters. There is a reaction to foreign policy in the Middle East and in part to the left losing its mind and in many cases, actively aligning with pro-Hezbollah and pro-Hamas forces. The rise in anti-Semitism in these cities and on these college campuses is horrifying to Jewish Americans paying attention who are civically interested, and it will give them pause. I do think you will see a shift, but 10 points is a pretty seismic shift.
Washington Reporter:
I think about Mike Lawler’s district, in part because he just wrote an op-ed for us about this. But where else do you see that impacting in 2024?
Dan Conston:
In the House, it’s fewer districts than it is in the statewides, but certainly the New York metro area. You look in Lawler’s district, in Anthony D’Esposito’s district, which has the Five Towns, in northern New Jersey in New Jersey’s 7th District with Tom Kean. I think it’s possible in some of the California, Orange County seats.
Washington Reporter:
What is your favorite ad that you’ve run?
Dan Conston:
It’s hard to pick from all your favorites. Look, the ads in 2020 against Max Rose with rather colorful Staten Islanders stand out because they made an enormous impact immediately. Our work against Sean Patrick Maloney last cycle, similarly, really stood out with him on camera, talking about ending cash bail and making it the top priority. We have similar content on Mondaire Jones today that has been really good. A lot of our best work has been our shot advertising, where in the right place with the right people, you can get creative that really stands out in a distinctive way. There was a guy that we used last cycle against Rudy Salas talking about the gas tax who will be featured again this cycle. Looking at our advertising in Maine right now, in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, we have a spot up in Colorado’s 8th District with a pretty sad story of a mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl because it came across the border, and how little Yadira Caraveo has done to fix the problem that I believe is really powerful.
Washington Reporter:
What’s your favorite and/or most unexpected win?
Dan Conston:
You’ve got to go by cycle. In 2020 — Nicole Malliotakis, we thought we’d win by the end, but at the beginning, it was seen as no chance. Look at Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, David Valadao, Don Bacon, Stephanie Bice, Claudia Tenney as well. Tenney was our biggest spend in 2020, $7 million. In 2022, Lawler beating the DCCC chair was a favorite, but also Virginia’s 2nd District. Elaine Luria was one of their most impressive incumbents, and Jen Kiggans beat her pretty decisively in a cycle where many of the best Democrat incumbents held on. The special election with Mayra Flores was pretty significant, because we made a late investment there that was able to push her over the edge.
Washington Reporter:
And that was the first election that Elon Musk voted for a Republican. Has he been a factor for you at all? Obviously he’s doing his own America PAC.
Dan Conston:
We’ve worked closely with his group on targeting and turnout efforts. It’s been a great collaboration. We’re grateful for all that they’re doing.
Washington Reporter:
Is there any district that if you knew the outcome on Election Night, that you could say, ‘all right, it’s going to be a long night’ or ‘it’s going to be a short night’?
Dan Conston:
Well, you’re not going to know a lot of these results on Election Night. Some races that will be good tells are the New York seats, the open seats in Michigan, and Virginia. Virginia reports quickly. If we’re winning both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a great night. If we’re losing both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a very bad night, and I think that’ll tell you one way or the other.
Washington Reporter:
What advice do you have to younger Republican operatives on how to maximize their potential?
Dan Conston:
The thing that helped me to most develop my skills was being a big fish in a small pond. Roles where I was really depended on made me significantly better. There is no question though, that building substantial networks where you are seen as a credible, honest operator, then allows you to grow into much bigger roles. There is a dearth of talent and there is a real opportunity for impressive young people with their heads on their shoulders, who handle stress and adversity well, and who can make strategic decisions and be counted on. The biggest thing to this degree, it sort of fits with being a big fish in a small pond, is whatever your job is, you want to be in a role that matters. When you’re in a big organization where you’re sort of stuck in the middle, you can get lost in the shuffle. Being in a place, wherever it is, where you are counted on, needed and held accountable. It makes you a heck of a lot better. You have to.
Washington Reporter:
And what do you wish you knew, rewinding back to January 2019, about running this organization? You’re the only constant in the House GOP for this entire time. What would you have told yourself ‘you’re really going to need to understand this’?
Dan Conston:
Have confidence that if you’re running the organization right, and your prospects are good, the resources will come. Given the nature of how we raise money, so much of our resources come late, and that always creates a challenging dynamic. But understanding that, and understanding the timelines of giving, you can create some consistency in your plans.
Washington Reporter:
Dan, thanks so much for chatting.