Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (or DCCC) is the official campaign organization of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives. It's role is to help recruit, assist, and fund Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives.

Leadership
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) was unanimously elected to head the DCCC for the 2008 campaign cycle. 

Van Hollen has since selected Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to lead the DCCC's Frontline program, which is intended to help "vulnerable" Democrats retain their seats. Frontline Democrats must raise between $650,000 and $1 million by June 30, build a network of 30,000 e-mail addresses by November 2008, and identify 1,000 volunteers. In the memorandum, he also stated that Democrats would “organize early to raise money and staff up to defend their new majority.”

Van Hollen has also tapped Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) to head the DCCC recruitment effort. Davis will be aided by Reps. Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Steve Israel (D-NY), Ron Kind (D-WI), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Mike Ross (D-AR), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Hilda Solis (D-CA) and Wasserman Schultz.

2008 Targets
On January 30, 2007 Van Hollen named Republican Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), freshman Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) as the top Democratic targets in a interview at DCCC headquarters. A strategy memo also notes that Democrats will continue to target the 20 seats where Republicans won by 5% or less.

Committee funding
Funds raised for the 1999-2000 cycle and the 2001-2002 cycle include hard and soft money. The other two cycles occurred after the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and therefore consist of only hard money.
 * 1999-2000 Election Cycle: Raised $105,096,499
 * 2001-2002 Election Cycle: Raised $102,889,031
 * 2003-2004 Election Cycle: Raised $92,945,101
 * 2005-2006 Election Cycle: Raised $137,023,474

Leadership during the 109th Congress (2005-2006)
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) headed the DCCC during the 2006 election cycle. The remaining staff included:


 * Karin Johanson, Executive Director
 * Brian Wolff, Deputy Executive Director
 * Ann Marie Habershaw, Chief Operating Officer
 * Bill Burton, Communications Director
 * Sarah Feinberg, Press Secretary
 * Beverly Gilyard, Member Services Director
 * Christina Reynolds, Research Director
 * Adrian Saenz, National Field Director
 * Sean Sweeney, Political Director

Data: 2006 Congressional Races

 * "Emerging Races" and "Emerging Candidates" Lists.

Articles

 * "Pelosi Taps Hollen for DCCC," Taegan Goddard's Political Wire (report from Roll Call), December 19, 2006. re Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
 * Jonathan E. Kaplan, "Wasserman Schultz to lead Frontline," The Hill, January 23, 2007.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * National Republican Campaign Committee
 * U.S. congressional elections in 2006
 * U.S. presidential election, 2004
 * U.S. presidential election, 2008

Contact Details
430 South Capitol Street Washington, DC 20003 Phone: 202-863-1500 Fax: 202-485-3436 Website: http://www.dccc.org Email: Send an email