A new fundraising report shows that Vice President Kamala Harris has risen to the top of her party’s race, with a flood of money flooding into her campaign after Republicans scrambled to inflate their coffers in the final weeks of the election. It reveals in detail how much the Democratic Party benefited from the fiercely contested parliamentary elections.
Democratic House and Senate candidates raised eye-popping amounts of money between July and September, according to a new report filed with the Federal Election Commission. They not only outmaneuvered their Republican opponents, they overwhelmed them.
Democratic candidates raised, on average, more than twice as much as Republican candidates in the third quarter of Senate and House races that the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates as competitive. . Democrats outperformed Republicans in all 11 Senate races and all but one of 26 House races.
In some cases, the gap was even wider. Three Democratic candidates for the Senate, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Rep. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, won more than four times as many votes as their Republican opponents during this period. Raised funds.
Thanks in part to fundraising, Democrats were able to significantly outspend their Republican opponents in key races from July to September. Democratic candidates for the Senate spent a total of $244 million, while Republican candidates spent $91.5 million. And House Democratic candidates who entered races rated as “leaning” or “leaning” toward one party or the other spent $132 million compared to $61.6 million for Republicans. .
In the Senate race, candidates from both parties in the top races ended September almost evenly matched in terms of cash on hand—Democrats had a combined $47.5 million in their campaign finance accounts, compared to Republicans. Funding was $44.8 million. The margin widened even further in competitive House races, with Democrats ending the quarter with a total of $80.8 million on hand and Republicans with $59.2 million.
Republicans would need a net gain of just one seat if former President Donald Trump wins the White House (because the vice president casts the tie-breaking vote) to take control of the Senate, or two seats if Harris wins. It is. The House race is also fiercely contested, as the Democratic Party needs to win a net of four seats to gain a majority.
Republicans have been sounding the alarm about candidate fundraising, especially since Harris became the Democratic Party’s de facto presidential nominee. And they are trying to counter the Democratic Party’s economic advantage by using a variety of methods to stretch candidates’ limited resources.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee both use so-called hybrid ads, a tactic that the NRSC began deploying more aggressively in the 2022 midterm elections. For these slots, the committee splits advertising costs with candidates, allowing them to buy ads at lower candidate rates rather than the higher rates of outside groups alone. However, the advertising content should include national themes as well as specific candidates.
So while this strategy places limits on the content of these ads, Republicans don’t see that as a problem because they have worked to nationalize these down-ballot races.
Democrats, too, are running hybrid ads, but Republicans in particular see the tactic as a way for candidates to counter the Democratic onslaught. Candidates must cover some of the costs for these spots, so funding is still limited.
Senate Republicans are also using new tactics to help candidates counter Democratic messages on the airwaves. They use joint fundraising committees, which allow multiple candidates or groups to raise money through one organization, and those committees run ads that include fundraising calls.
Democrats tried to block this tactic by asking the FEC to help. The committee stalled on the issue last week, allowing the practice to continue and raising concerns among Democrats bracing for delays in the flow of Republican money into these races.
“This basically means more money going into elections this cycle, but more money forever,” Slotkin, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan, told NBC News in an interview last week. It will be,” he said. “Basically, it’s terrible. And Democrats have an advantage in small campaign contributions. Republicans have a lot of millionaires and billionaires. … I mean, it really hurts our advantage on TV. ”
But Democrats suggested they could also use the tactic to launch their own ads.
“Unlike Republicans, the[Democratic Senate Campaign Committee]and the Senate Democratic camp sought clear guidance from the FEC on this practice, and the FEC was unable to provide it,” said DSCC spokesman David. Bergstein said. “The DSCC will now utilize the same tactics Republicans are employing regarding joint committee advertising to ensure that our campaigns are not put at a disadvantage in the final weeks of the campaign.”
And while candidates and campaign committees are battling it out on the airwaves, super PACs are also spending millions of dollars in battles for Congress.
The Senate Majority PAC, the main outside group for Democrats in the Senate race, reported raising a whopping $119 million in the third quarter. The largest single donation, $5 million, came from financial strategist Michelle Chan, and other prominent Democrats, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have also donated to the group.
Its Republican counterpart, the Senate Leadership Fund, has raised $116 million, including contributions from several big Republican donors, including Ken Griffin, Paul Singer and Steve Schwartzman.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the main Republican super PAC involved in House races, raised $81.5 million from July to September, thanks to contributions from mega-donors Tim Mellon and Miriam Adelson.
Its Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, has chosen to file fundraising reports monthly rather than quarterly. The group, backed by funding from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, raised a total of $31.6 million in July and August and has until Sunday to submit its September report. A spokesperson for House Majority PAC said the group reported raising a combined $99 million from July to September.
