As congressional Republicans face fundraising woes, money is pouring into the coffers of Democratic candidates in some key Senate races. In fact, Democrats considerably out-raised their Republican counterparts in Maine, Arizona, Colorado, South Carolina, Kansas, and—wait for it—Kentucky!
And we're not talking chump change here. In all those states, Democratic fundraising eclipsed Republicans fundraising by varying degrees of millions, according to a review by the New York Times.
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Let's start with the relative long shots. In Kentucky, Democrat Amy McGrath posted a haul of $12.8 million in the first quarter, fully $5.4 million more than Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Sorry, not sorry.
Things weren't quite as bad for South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham, but the $7.4 million that Democrat Jamie Harrison raised was still a 30% bump over Graham's $5.7 million intake.
In Kansas, Democratic state senator Barbara Bollier is running for the state's open Senate seat and dusted her likely GOP opponent, Kris Kobach, by more than $2 million, taking in over $2.3 million to his $240,000. (Her other potential GOP challenger raised $375,000.)
Of those longer shot races, Bollier likely has the best chance of winning in Kansas, but who knows who else a Democratic tsunami on election night might also sweep up.
And then there are the races still generally considered to be toss-ups in Maine, Colorado, and Arizona. Here's how the GOP incumbents fared against their Democratic challengers:
- Maine: Sen. Susan Collins, $2.4 million; Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, $7.1 million
- Colorado: Sen. Cory Gardner, $2.5 million; former governor John Hickenlooper, $4.1 million
- Arizona: Sen. Martha McSally, $6.3 million; Mark Kelly, $11 million
It's worth noting that incumbents usually have a cash-on-hand advantage, but those are some pretty stunning fundraising numbers across the board, suggesting that Democratic voters are hungry to take back the Senate.