WASHINGTON — It must be near the end of a pivotal fundraising quarter, because Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan is “freaking out.” Colorado’s GOP Senate nominee, Joe O’Dea, is offering to “personally 1,400% MATCH” select campaign donations.
Lawmakers and challengers are planning a fundraising blitz ahead of Friday’s quarterly deadline, the last big one before the November midterms, which are on track to be the priciest nonpresidential cycle yet. The onslaught of appeals includes desperate-sounding emails like the ones from Ryan and O’Dea, as well as more than 100 in-person events planned this week in Washington for members of both parties to raise campaign cash from K Street lobbyists and political action committee donors while Congress is in session.
The scene this week seems almost normal for a two-year election cycle that has been anything but. It began with the violent attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and the resulting fundraising freezes from numerous corporate PACs in response. Eventually, even most paused PACs went back to donating. COVID-19 mitigations shifted many fundraising events online for much of the cycle, but while fundraising Zooms still occur, they are in the minority now.
