The super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised $37.4 million in August and entered September with $126.2 million to spend defending Republicans in the fall elections.
Senate Leadership Fund’s August haul was dominated by $25 million in contributions from Republican megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson and $4 million from Steve Wynn, the wealthy Las Vegas casino magnate and former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to Federal Election Commission filings. SLF is investing its money in television advertising and digital outreach to protect the Republican Party’s three-seat majority.
Republican Senate incumbents are under fire from well-funded Democratic challengers in at least seven states. Democratic candidates have raised unusually large sums of campaign cash, putting Senate contests in play in traditionally red states such as Alaska, Georgia, and South Carolina, among others. And, that was before Friday’s death of beloved liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ginsburg’s passing sparked another wave of donations to Democratic candidates from grassroots liberals. Republicans are keeping an eye on this development even though many GOP operatives believe the fight to in the Senate confirm Ginsburg’s successor will help their party hold the majority. President Trump is expected to announce Saturday his nominee to replace Ginsburg.
Meanwhile, SLF’s Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority PAC, raised a workmanlike $17.2 million in August. The group, aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, began September with an $84.9 million war chest funded to a significant degree by small contributions from grassroots donors.
