Dem
47
GOP
53
The Senate Leadership Fund, the main Republican Senate super PAC, raised $85 million in the first half of 2025. This is a record for the first half of an off year. In fact, it is double the previous record. This is the first test of how good Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is. He is off to a flying start.
However, Thune doesn't deserve all the credit. The SLF is now run by Alex Latcham and Cory Gardner, in close cooperation with Donald Trump. In the past, it was run by Steven Law, a close ally of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). So Trumpish guys do better now than McConnellish guys did in the past. Plausible.
Since the group is now rolling in money, it will start spending it much earlier than normal. In fact, they are already spending in Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Nebraska, and North Carolina. The latter might soon stop since nobody knows who either the Democratic or Republican candidate will be. How to support or oppose a candidate if you don't know who they are? It plans to spend much more money on digital and streaming than in the past, to catch people who don't watch traditional television, especially younger voters. Many nontraditional voters showed up for Trump in 2024. The SLF wants to get them to vote in 2026 and that may require nontraditional media to get to them. (V)