Republican Committee Begins Midterm Election Cycle in the Black

The Republican National Committee, which started the 2012 campaign cycle in deep financial distress, will begin the current period without any debt and with $4.7 million in cash on hand.

“We have important work to do, guided by the upcoming recommendations of the Growth and Opportunity Project, as we take our message of economic opportunity to every state and community,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the committee, said in a statement to be released Thursday evening. “With the continued support of our donors and sound financial stewardship, we will move swiftly to renew our party and grow our ranks so that we can win more elections â€" in 2013, 2014 and beyond.”

The party committee raised about $2.3 million in December, following the presidential election. The R.N.C. raised a total of $378 million during the presidential campaign cycle, from 2010 to 2012, officials will report.

Republicans started the last campaign season in 2011 in a $24 million hole after financial difficultis under Michael S. Steele, the previous chairman. The intensity of the presidential campaign helped the committee erase the debt.

That financial position will help in the coming two years, as Republicans battle during the midterm elections for a majority in the Senate and to retain control of the House.

It will also help provide Republicans some of the resources they will need to confront what the leadership has said are deficiencies in the party’s ground operation and turnout efforts.

President Obama’s campaign proved to be far more effective at identifying voters and getting them to the polls, using sophisticated technology that Republicans have admitted they do not have. Building that infrastructure ahead of the 2016 campaign will be critical â€" and costly.

The Democratic National Committee has not yet reported its fund-raising for the end of last year. In the future, some of the Democratic donors may choose to contribute to a new, nonpro! fit grass-roots organization called Organizing for Action, set up by Mr. Obama’s former campaign advisers.

Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.