Jul.19

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Q2 Fundraising for Congress

On Monday, we took a look at how the various presidential candidates did in Q2, fundraising-wise. Now, we look at some of the news on the Congressional front.

At the committee level, Democrats had the better quarter. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reported donations of $33.5 million, as compared to $25.6 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee brought in $54.6 million, while the National Republican Congressional Committee countered with $25.8 million. Democratic insiders say their success is being driven by pro-choice voters; we see no reason to doubt that.

The best news for the GOP came from individual fundraising totals for the House of Representatives. A total of 65 Republican House candidates raised $500,000 or more, as compared to 40 Democrats. In the last year-before-a-presidential-election (2019), those totals were basically flipped in Q2. In addition, the 31 House Republicans that Democrats are targeting largely all had robust fundraising quarters, including three—Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Michelle Steel (CA), and Young Kim (CA)—who brought in more than $1 million. By contrast, only one targeted Democrat, namely Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), broke the $1 million barrier.

That said, while the House Democrats being targeted by Republicans may not be rolling in it (outside of Gluesenkamp Perez), they also don't have much to worry about as yet, as only six of those blue teamers saw their opponents raise more than $200,000. In short, if you're an incumbent, you have a big advantage in fundraising, even if the other party has put a target on your back. Especially if the other party has put a target on your back, in most cases.

Here's a rundown of some of the individual candidates' tallies:

• Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA): Casey doesn't even have a declared opponent, or would-be opponent, yet, but he still had the best quarter of his political career, collecting $4 million. The PAC of Casey's possible opponent, David McCormick (R), did bring in $1 million, but this total was aided significantly by a check billionaire Jeffrey Yass wrote to the PAC, for... $1 million.
  
  
• Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT): His take was about $5 million, which is more than ten times more than would-be opponent Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), who collected just $443,000. The "establishment" Republican, Tim Sheehy, joined the race late enough that he did not have to file a Q2 report.
  
  
• Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH): He also took in about $5 million. Between him and Tester, they can build one $6 million man, and still have $4 million left over for spare parts.
  
  
• Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI): She bagged $3.2 million, which her campaign says is a record for an off-year quarter in Wisconsin.
  
  
• Sen. Joe Manchin (D?-WV): It's not clear what office Manchin is running for in 2024, or if he's running at all, but he did have total receipts of $1.3 million. That's more than either of his potential U.S. Senate opponents, Republicans Jim Justice (brought in $1 million) and Rep. Kyle Mooney (brought in $550,000). Justice can make up the discrepancy by getting out his checkbook; Mooney cannot.
  
  
• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ): Sinema took in $1.7 million...
  
  
• Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ): ... but her main rival in Arizona took in $3.1 million.
  
  
• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): The other two folks running for the U.S. Senate in California, namely Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter (both D-CA), had big hauls this quarter (roughly $8 million each), and so announced (crowed?) their totals a couple of weeks ago. Lee has been rather quieter, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know. As it turns out, she brought in $1.1 million. That just isn't going to get it done in California, where advertising (and everything else) is expensive.
  
  
• Rep. Collin Allred (D-TX): Because so many people hate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Allred was able to bring in a very impressive $6.2 million. That's just a fraction of what is needed to wage a legitimate U.S. Senate campaign in Texas, but it's still a very good start. It's also as much as Beto O'Rourke raised in his first three quarters as a candidate.
  
  
• Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO): She collected $764,000, which isn't bad. But her opponent, Adam Frisch (D), who's back for his second bite at the apple, brought in a staggering $2.6 million. That is easily the most of any House candidate this quarter. He can triple her spending and still have plenty left over for a Rocky Mountain High.
  
  
• Rep. "George Santos" (R-NY): "Santos" brought in $133,000 this quarter, and paid $85,000 of that to... himself. This was apparently repayment of the loans that the Representative made to himself when running for office in the first place. It's legal, but spending 60% of one's fundraising take on paying oneself back is not something one does if planning to make a serious reelection bid.

The next deadline is on October 10. By then, we'll have reached the point of no return for most offices, and so things should be very instructive, indeed. (Z)