Excited citizens donate to candidates, which is why fundraising headlines make news. They are one of the indicators as to whether or not things are going well in a campaign.
Fundraising reports for the second quarter (2Q) of the year were recently released, so you’re likely seeing a lot of headlines. Fundraising headlines can be really misleading, though, so I dug into some of the stories to bring you this update.
Fundraising News – The House
✦ 54 House Republicans were outraised by their Democratic challengers
✦ In 25 of the competitive open races (i.e. ones without an incumbent running), Democrats had raised more money than the Republicans in all but 2 of them
✦ Out of the 21 races in the Toss-Up column, Democrats outraised Republicans in 17 of them
✦ In races rated as “lean Republican,” Democrats had outraised Republicans in 18 of 24 of them
✦ 20 Democratic challengers raised more than $1M this quarter
✦ The Republican Congressional Leadership Fund had a huge haul of $51M in 2Q
✦ Most Republican incumbents still have the advantage when it comes to “cash on hand”
Daily Kos Elections has a handy chart of the fundraising numbers for all the competitive races in the House here. Check out your favorite candidates and share any good news you find to encourage others!
Fundraising News – The Senate
✦ In Texas (rating: Likely Republican), Democrat Beto O’Rourke raised $10.4M, far outpacing Senator Ted Cruz’s $4.6M total
✦ In Missouri (rating: Toss Up), Senator Claire McCaskill (D) raised $4.3M, more than twice what her GOP challenger raised
✦ In Florida (rating: Toss Up), Senator Bill Nelson (D) raised $4.4M but was outraised by challenger Gov. Rick Scott who raised $10.7M
✦ In North Dakota (rating: Toss Up), Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D) slightly outraised her GOP challenger, $1.9M to $1.5M
✦ In Nevada (rating: Toss Up), Senator Dean Heller (R) pulled in $2.3M but his challenger, Democrat Jacky Rosen brought in $3.5M
One Non-Fundraising Update
Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently changed the ratings for 3 governors races, and all three shifted left towards the Democrats. Remember, this November 36 governors will be elected, so these midterms are HUGELY important.
ARIZONA: Likely Republican –> Leans Republican
IOWA: Leans Republican –> Toss-up
ILLINOIS: Leans Democratic –> Likely Democratic
In Conclusion
As much as we’d like to all see fundraising not be so important in politics, for the time being, it still is. Candidates need money to fuel getting their messages out, attracting and training volunteers, and getting out the vote, for starters. That we are seeing some good numbers is very encouraging, but we’ve still got over 3 months to go before midterms. Let’s keep up the good work!
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