Senate Democrats outraised the Republicans for the second consecutive month despite being booted into the minority in the midterm elections.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the organization charged with winning back the Senate majority for the Democratic Party in 2016, raised $4.34 million in February. That beat the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the NRSC, by about $500,000. The DSCC reported $5.5 million in cash on hand as of Feb. 28, along with $15 million in operational debt (the committee has additional debt but that is related to the mortgage on its Washington headquarters.)
“Our supporters are as energized as ever to retake the Senate, and we’re proud to report our strongest ever off-year February,” DSCC executive director Tom Lopach said in a statement.
The Republicans won nine Democrat-held seats last year to move into a six-seat majority, picking off a slew of vulnerable seats in red states and swing territory. In the next election, Democrats are poised to wield a similar, structural advantage. At least seven Republican-held seats are up for election in blue states and purple battlegrounds, including seats in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The NRSC, formerly the National Republican Senatorial Committee, closed February with $4.3 million in the bank and $8 million in debt left over from 2014. The haul represents a record breaking February for the NRSC in a non-election year. Two years ago, the committee raised $2.1 million; two years before that it raised $3.1 million.
