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The Democratic National Committee took out $15 million in loans in October, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission submitted on Thursday.

The national party committee framed the line of credit as an early investment to boost its candidates in New Jersey and Virginia earlier this month, and help build up state parties ahead of next year’s midterms. But the need for a loan still puts the DNC in sharp contrast with its GOP counterpart, the Republican National Committee, which was sitting on $86 million at the end of September.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said the early investment was already helping the party win elections this month and position itself for what is to come.

“We can’t win elections or fight back against Trump if the D.N.C. downsizes operations like it often does after a presidential cycle,” Martin said in a statement. “I made a bet that investing early would build power, rack up wins and rally supporters back to the table. That bet is paying off.”

The loans were first reported by the New York Times.

The DNC also spent $16.9 million in October, the most it has spent in any single month this year. Driving that total was election-related spending: The national party spent over $6 million in New Jersey and Virginia to boost Democratic gubernatorial candidates, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in Pennsylvania to help retain control of the state’s Supreme Court.

Democrats won all those races.

The national party committee also continues to send roughly $1 million each month to state party committees, and has a larger staff than it did at this time in 2017. It reported $18.3 million cash on hand at the end of October.

The DNC has taken out loans before, although usually not this early in the cycle or of this magnitude all at once. In Trump’s first term, when the national party similarly faced fundraising lags, it reported $3.2 million in debt in November 2017 — this same time in the cycle — and more than $7 million a few months later, according to past FEC filings. The DNC has not reported more than $15 million in total debt since February 2014.

But the national party has faced slower fundraising this year as many major donors have stayed on the sidelines amid the DNC’s rebuilding efforts. The party’s fundraising numbers have improved slightly in recent months, and it raised $7.5 million from donors in October, not far off from the same month in 2021.

The party committee’s cash totals were also hit earlier in the year as it paid off $18 million in lingering expenses from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign.

Former President Barack Obama is embracing his role as mentor-in-chief, huddling with nearly three dozen freshman House Democrats at the Capitol Hill home of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) at a Wednesday night event hosted by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The event — moderated by Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — saw Obama buck up Democrats and offer insights on surviving Republican majorities.

“I get feeling discouraged sometimes,” Obama told the room over soda, water, crackers and crudite, according to excerpts provided by his office to Blue Light News. “I get feeling worn out, tired, and embattled. But in our second term, Denis McDonough, my chief of staff, used to pass out stickers based on a conversation that he and I had had that talked about, ‘we do not succumb to cynicism — cynicism is our enemy.’ And it’s pervasive in this town.”

He added that McDonough had stickers printed that read: “fight cynicism.”

“And that, I think, is our most important battle, right?” Obama said. “We don’t give into that, and then we’re going to be able to figure out the same stuff.”

Obama emphasized to attendees that he had “been in your shoes. Because when I was — everybody remembers the Democratic National Convention in 2004 — when you were. …well, you were in elementary school” — a line that drew laughter.

Obama also compared that moment more than 20 years ago to this one in the Democratic Party’s search for a path out of the wilderness.

“But what people don’t recall is that John Kerry lost that election,” Obama said. “And we didn’t control the House, and we did not control the Senate. And Tom Daschle, who was then the Democratic leader of the Senate, lost, which is unheard of. And Karl Rove, who was the chief architect of George Bush’s campaigns and political career was – could be found on all the TV stations, talking about the ‘permanent Republican majority’ that had been created.”

The former president continued, describing a similar sense of despair in 2004 that Democrats felt after 2024 when President Donald Trump swept all seven battleground states and decisively beat former Vice President Kamala Harris.

But it ultimately turned out well for Democrats two decades ago, Obama said.

“And two years later, Nancy Pelosi was the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives. And four years later, somehow, I ended up being president. The reason I tell you that is not for you to, you know, feel complacent,” he said. “It’s to indicate that the work that you are doing right now, the investment you’re making, the focus that you’re applying, the issues that you are developing, the interactions that you’re having with your constituencies. All that is creating the momentum and the opportunity for change.”

Obama took five questions on several topics, including on lessons learned on the Affordable Care Act fight. On that point, he told Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) that he overestimated Republicans’ willingness to work with him, saying he could have learned that lesson quicker.

“We wasted a lot of time trying to engage the ideas of Republicans on a good faith basis,” Obama said.

Obama lingered with McBride in a photo line amid the event, according to a person familiar with the gathering granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation, and has complimented her on her high-profile media appearances and her messaging, including her interview with Ezra Klein earlier this year.

Obama has never been far from the campaign trail over the last year, and his post-presidency has focused on boosting the next generation of Democratic leaders. He stumped for candidates in New Jersey’s and Virginia’s off-year elections, and has had  phone calls with incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, among others.

Ahead of the 2024 elections, he hosted several small group sessions in his office with the goal of offering a sounding board, according to a person close to him granted anonymity to speak candidly, including with a group of Obama administration alumni, emerging voices within the party and in-cycle senators.

This is only the second time in his post-presidency that Obama has met with freshman Democrats: He also did so in 2019. Obama spoke on the last episode of the Marc Maron podcast recently of his “move from player to coach” in the Democratic Party.

“His goal,” a person close to the former president said, “is to build a sustainable Democratic Party that can survive without him.”