The political committee charged with protecting the Republicans’ newly installed Senate majority raised $2.5 million in January — $1 million more than it brought in two years ago, when the GOP was in the minority.
The NRSC, formerly known as the National Republican Senatorial Committee, closed the first month of the year with $4.1 million in cash on hand and $10 million in campaign debt left over from the 2014 midterm elections, according to figures shared with the Washington Examiner. The Republicans won nine Senate seats last year, rising to a 54-seat majority from a 45 seat minority. In the 2012 elections, the Republicans had lost two seats.
Senate Republicans are going to need resources in 2016. The Democrats need to flip five seats to recapture the majority and are running on a favorable map, with GOP-controlled seats up in blue states like Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and battleground states like Florida, New Hampshire and Ohio. In 2014, the Senate playing field benefited Republicans as the party ousted Democrats in the red states of Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently launched a super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, to boost the party’s 2016 prospects.
January fundraising totals for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were not available at press time. In December, the Republican committee out-raised the Democratic committee.
