Senate Democratic candidates are posting eye-popping third-quarter fundraising numbers, cutting into Republicans’ midterm spending advantage across the map.
James Talarico raised $64 million in Texas, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff brought in $33 million, former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown brought in $28.2 million between his fundraising committees, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper raised $19.5 million, former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola took in $17 million, Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million, and Rep. Chris Pappas raised $8.1 million in New Hampshire.
The GOP Senate Leadership Fund super PAC brought in $273 million while Democratic Senate Majority PAC raised $151 million. But the individual campaign numbers are important because candidates get better ad rates than outside groups.
Talarico’s haul earned a “holy crap” from Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, on Thursday, but he insisted the spending is getting to a “point of diminishing returns. … We’ve ruined college sports and basically every sporting event with advertising.”
On the Republican side, former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers brought in $9.6 million, Sen. Susan Collins raised $5.2 million in Maine, Ohio Sen. Jon Husted took in $4.8 million, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton raised $18 million.
Paxton and Husted in particular demonstrate the GOP disadvantage at the candidate level, although the Republican super PAC spending in Texas and Ohio is intended to counteract it.
Not all of the Democratic or Republican campaigns had disclosed their fundraising by Thursday afternoon.
— Burgess Everett