Senate Republicans on Tuesday agreed to transfer $3 million in personal campaign funds to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in their bid to capture the Senate majority this November, sources confirmed.
With control of the Senate on the line and Democrats and their allies pouring millions more into competitive contests than the Republicans and their supporters, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made an impassioned plea to his conference during Tuesday’s weekly caucus lunch. Sources said McConnell, himself embroiled in a tough re-election contest, told members that they have a historic opportunity to govern and need to do their part.
Republicans need to flip six Democratic-held seats to win control of the Senate. Three of those seats appear to be in hand — Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia — but it remains to be seen if they can close the deal in three more, while holding all of their own, to capture the majority.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has outraised the NRSC by nearly $30 million this election cycle, in part by collecting far more in personal campaign funds from Democratic senators than the GOP committee has taken in from Republican members. Senate Republicans have historically contributed little to the NRSC from their personal campaign accounts, especially compared to what Democrats give the DSCC.
The $3 million in member transfer commitments is equal to three times what Republican senators had contributed to the NRSC, collectively, as of June 30 and represent one of the committee’s best hauls in years from its own members. The Washington Examiner reported in August that of the $113 million sitting in Republican senators’ accounts at the end of June, they had transferred about 1 percent — $1.3 million — to the NRSC.
