National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶124

The lion’s share of that money typically gets pooled within short order in the national party committee’s coffers. It takes a couple of steps. First, the John Smith Victory Fund parcels the money out to its member committees, in accordance with the contribution limits. That means the national party gets $44,300, and the state parties each get $10,000. But then most state parties quickly transfer their $10,000 payment to the national party, sometimes the same day. See §30116(a)(4) (authorizing unlimited transfers between state and national committees of a political party). The upshot is that most of a big donor’s $550,000 check to the John Smith Victory Fund soon ends up in the national party committee’s hands. Then the key question becomes: What can the party do with that money?

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