Leading Off
Fundraising
Democratic candidates for the Senate and House smashed their Republican opponents in fundraising during the third quarter of the year, giving them the chance to neutralize the deluge of cash from GOP super PACs that’s flooding races from coast to coast.
New disclosures compiled by The Downballot show that Democrats running in next month’s elections, along with independents campaigning with Democratic support, hauled in $499 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, more than two-and-a-half times as much as the $194 million their GOP rivals brought in.
Those Democratic contenders also heavily outspent their counterparts. Collectively, Democrats deployed $574 million, versus just $288 million for Republicans—a margin of two-to-one.
Not all of those funds went toward winning in November, though.
Twenty-one states held a congressional primary or runoff during the third quarter, so some of this spending went toward helping candidates earn a spot on next month’s ballot. In addition, California and Louisiana are hosting several House races that will or may pit only candidates of the same party against one another—races that won’t impact the battle for control of the chamber.
Nonetheless, congressional campaigns have devoted the vast majority of this money, in one way or another, to the general election. Yet even with their sizable spending advantage, Democrats still went into the final month of the race with more cash available: $538 million to $392 million.