Democrats outraised and outspent President Trump in 2024, underscoring how money wasn’t the party’s biggest problem in its loss of power last year, according to several strategists, big-dollar donors and aides who spoke to The Hill.

These sources say the party’s problems run much deeper than raising money.

“The challenges that Democrats are having right now you can't completely buy your way out of,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne. “You can't spend your way out of the type of political challenge that we're in right now. It's going to take more than spending and trying to overwhelm the other side with your bank account.”

Operatives and donors in the party say they’ve concluded their messaging and failures to connect with voters are the roots of their deeper issues.

Yet that could also cause some financial issues.

With the midterm elections inching closer, some Democratic donors say they will refuse to write checks until the party gets its act together.

“Nothing raises money more than winning,” said John Morgan, a major Democratic donor. “When sports teams are losing, even the people with season tickets don’t go.”

Morgan, like other donors interviewed for this........

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