How Devin Nunes raises millions: Lawsuits, a ‘deep state’ doll and Fox News spots
Rep. Devin Nunes sent out a campaign fundraising pitch on the afternoon of Feb. 13 with the subject line: “They hate me.”
“Since I uncovered the left’s plot to overthrow President (Donald) Trump, I’ve made myself one of their top targets and they will do anything to silence me,” the email reads. “They believe that through a coordinated smear campaign with the fake news media, they can intimidate me into giving up. They don’t understand that I will continue fighting for the truth as long as it takes.”
Between that day and the next, nearly $50,000 flooded into Nunes’ campaign account. And while that would be a huge two-day haul for most congressional candidates, it was below average for Nunes, R-Tulare, who raked in $4 million in the first quarter of 2020.
That type of fundraising pitch is typical for Nunes, who portrays himself as Trump’s champion against perceived adversaries in the news media and in the federal government. He’s attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 election, and more recently, Trump’s impeachment in the House of Representatives.
In emails to supporters, Nunes says he needs help so he can continue to protect the president.
He’s offering branded games and knickknacks, too.
One fundraising email sent Wednesday offered for $30 an “exclusive” “Deep State Russia Hoax Puzzle,” which pictured the faces of former President Barack Obama, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and Mueller on Russian Babushka dolls.
Nunes’ controversial persona — many Democrats tend to dislike him, while many Republicans tend to back him — lends itself to big fundraising opportunities, according to Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan University of Virginia publication on elections.
In fact, Nunes is one of the few politicians who can raise cash like Trump can, bringing in huge amounts of money with small-dollar donors, Kondik said.
“Having the right enemies is helpful for fundraising. That’s been true of the president and in general with Republicans,” Kondik said. “A lot of House members are pretty anonymous, but some of them rise above the din for one reason or another. Nunes is definitely one of those.”
Nunes’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
Suing The Washington Post
Nunes’ best day of the quarter came when he announced on March 2 he was suing The Washington Post, a frequent target of Trump’s. Nunes raised $144,000 that day and $80,000 the day after.
In the lawsuit, Nunes says the paper defamed him in a Feb. 21 news story describing an intelligence briefing given to members of Congress regarding Russia’s perceived preference for President Trump’s re-election. The story says Trump learned about the briefing from Nunes, and Nunes argues The Post story was part of a long-running effort to damage Nunes’ reputation.
The lawsuit is one four Nunes has filed since 2019 against news organizations that he claims conspired to defame him. He’s suing the largest news organization in his district, The Fresno Bee, as well as CNN and Esquire Magazine. The news organizations are fighting the lawsuits and have filed motions to dismiss them.
In another lawsuit, Nunes alleges he was defamed by Twitter, a Republican political strategist and anonymous social media users who make fun of him under the personas of “Devin Nunes’ Cow” and “Devin Nunes’ Mom.”
Separately, he’s suing the investigative research firm Fusion GPS, which is known as the agency that in 2016 created the so-called “Steele dossier” of tips regarding Trump’s ties to Russia. Nunes filed and dropped one more lawsuit last year against a handful of critics, including a Tulare County farmer, who called Nunes a “fake farmer” during the 2018 election.
Nunes promotes his lawsuits on conservative opinion shows on Fox News. He’s appeared on shows like Hannity, the Ingraham Angle and Tucker Carlson Tonight at least eight times so far in April, doing those TV interviews from his home amid the coronavirus pandemic. He gets positive coverage from other conservative media such as Breitbart and the Federalist.
President Trump also has touted Nunes on Twitter and at public appearances. Trump publicly praised a book in October that portrays Nunes as a hero for his work on the House Intelligence Committee in 2016 and 2017, called “The Plot Against the President. The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History.”
That renown allows Nunes to not only raise big cash, but continue to build up his operation to turn out those big numbers every quarter, according to Kondik. His fame means more people sign on to receive his emails, more people pay attention when he talks on Fox News.
“He’s the kind of person who rank and file voters would see on TV, identify with and give money to. You see that with famous politicians, that they’d have an easier time raising small dollar,” Kondik said. “Trump’s small dollar fundraising doesn’t translate to most Republicans, but Nunes is an exception.”
Helpful for fundraising, bad for elections
While that fame lends itself to fundraising, it can make elections more challenging for members of Congress, Kondik said.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, for example, had his closest House victory in 2012, when he was running as vice president to then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Ryan won by 11.5 points that year, when his typical margin of victory in the race was 30 points and above.
“Paul Ryan never had much trouble, but when you’re tied to the (presidential) election you’ll get less crossover support,” Kondik said. “As (politicians) become more famous, they can have tougher elections at home. People at home might look at them through more of a partisan lens.”
That’s similar to Nunes, who has served in Congress since 2003 and enjoyed multiple years of 30-plus point margins of victory before 2018.
That year — the first election cycle Nunes became a household name — Nunes’ margin fell to 5 percentage points as liberal voters from around country sent $9 million to his opponent’s campaign.
Nunes in that election focused his campaign on running against the media rather than his challenger, Democrat Andrew Janz. And Nunes raised $12 million doing it.
Nunes’ campaign distributed a 40-page magazine style mailer that called The Fresno Bee a “propaganda machine” and featured the Bee’s mascot drowning amidst communist symbols after the newspaper published stories on protests at Nunes’ offices and on a lawsuit filed against a winery in which Nunes has a limited partnership.
There’s a lot of parallels with Nunes’ 2020 opponent, Phil Arballo. Arballo is a financial adviser with little name recognition before he ran against Nunes. Like Janz, Arballo has raised money off Nunes’ controversial statements and actions, such as Nunes’ lawsuits.
Arballo raised just over $700,000 in the first quarter of 2020.
Meanwhile, Nunes has continued to campaign mainly against the left and the media.
“The fake news media is out of control,” an email sent April 21 states. “The radical left and their friends in the liberal media have used their positions of power to attack, antagonize, and spread fake news about me, conservatives, and President Trump for far too long.”
Kondik still believes Nunes will be “safe,” as said in Sabato’s Crystal Ball. Those ratings don’t reflect how close an election might be, only the confidence the analysts have in who will ultimately win, even if it’s just by a point or two. And Kondik said he’s “fairly confident” Nunes will win, especially after election results from California’s March primary showed the total Democratic vote in the district at 42.4 percent.
That could go up “slightly” in the general, Kondik said, but it’s unlikely to go up 8 percentage points.
“It could still be competitive, but it seems like a district that will vote for Trump again,” Kondik said. “Maybe not in a landslide, but that should be enough for Nunes to win.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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