WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats’ campaign arm plans to report on Friday that it hauled in $8.2 million in April, slightly more than its GOP counterpart, as both parties gear up for potential record-shattering expenditures in this year’s midterm elections.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also will report holding $45.9 million cash on hand in its monthly disclosure to the Federal Election Commission, the group shared first with CQ Roll Call. The National Republican Senatorial Committee previously said that it would report holding $45.1 million, after raising $8.1 million in April, according to a news release. The NRSC’s FEC filing indeed reflected that amount of cash on hand.
The campaign committee, which is seeking to protect vulnerable members such as Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, started off the 2021-2022 cycle with a cash-on-hand deficit compared with the NRSC. The Democratic committee reported holding $9 million as of Jan. 31, 2021, while the GOP committee held $17.2 million at that time, according to FEC records.
The NRSC said earlier this month its cash on hand of $45.1 million at the end of April represented “the highest cash on hand in the history of either the NRSC or the DSCC,” but the DSCC said it was poised to report even more: $45.9 million.
The April reports will not reflect a recent surge in fundraising after an early May story in Politico reported the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the 1973 landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade.
The NRSC is raising money to shore up some of its party’s most vulnerable members, including Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is facing a primary from a challenger who has the backing of former President Donald Trump.
“The DSCC’s record breaking fundraising continues to be fueled by strong, engaged grassroots supporters who recognize the stakes of this election — and are committed to protecting and expanding our Democratic Senate Majority so that we can keep fighting for the issues that matter most for working Americans,” the group’s executive director, Christie Roberts, said in a statement to CQ Roll Call.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the NRSC this election cycle, said earlier this month that his campaign arm had raised more than $150 million so far ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
“While the Democrats are focused on late-term abortion, playing the blame game with the skyrocketing inflation, and ignoring the raging crisis at our Southern Border, voters are getting behind the Republican agenda and supporting our efforts to take back the Senate,” Scott said in the release.
“They are rejecting the Democrats’ radical agenda and ready for a change in Washington. This is clearly evident in our fundraising numbers for this month – raising nearly $156 million this cycle to date and $51.1 million so far in 2022, with $8.1 million raised in April,” he said. “The NRSC is ready to help deliver a Republican majority in the Senate in November.”
