CHICAGO — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has raised $10 million for Democratic candidates and incumbents in 16 states this cycle, per fundraising numbers shared exclusively with Punchbowl News.
The New York Democrat has done 30 fundraisers for Senate Democrats this month alone, as he works to save a Senate majority that’s under grave threat. Schumer has hosted fundraisers for candidates and incumbents in every frontline race — from Ohio to Arizona and Montana to Maryland.
That’s on top of the $167 million the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC has raised and the $139 million the DSCC has brought in, according to the latest filings. SMP has $124.5 million cash on hand, while the DSCC has $53.1 million. Democrats in down-ballot races are also hoping to benefit from Vice President Kamala Harris’ record-breaking $500 million fundraising haul.
What Schumer told us: In an interview here at the Chicago convention, Schumer said Senate Democrats, through super PACs and official party organizations, are raising more than Senate Republicans, House Republicans and House Democrats.
While that’s impossible to know for sure at this point, cash is one of the few advantages Schumer has as the 2024 campaign enters a crucial stretch. Party leaders will need to make big decisions on how to allocate their resources, with the primary goal being to defend more than half a dozen seats that are at risk of flipping to the GOP.
“[Mitch] McConnell, realizing that we’re good at this, has brought in all these billionaire and multi-millionaire candidates,” Schumer said, a reference to the fact that many GOP challengers are independently wealthy and can bankroll their campaigns.
NRSC Chair Steve Daines often reminds GOP candidates that they’ll never outraise their Democratic opponents. In many of these races, Democrats are outspending Republicans by tens of millions of dollars. But money alone can’t win a race, and Schumer knows that.
“There’s just a movement in America in our direction,” Schumer declared, pointing to the ascension of Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket.
With West Virginia already flipping to the GOP, Republicans just need to win one more seat to retake the Senate majority. Their best pickup opportunities are in Montana and Ohio. But Republicans are also pouring millions into presidential battlegrounds like Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Democrats are defending seats.
Ticket-splitting: Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio can’t win their races without a massive chunk of so-called “ticket-splitters” — voters who choose former President Donald Trump in the presidential race and Tester or Brown in the Senate race.
As we’ve written before, this is an increasingly rare phenomenon. We asked Schumer how Tester and Brown could possibly win enough ticket-splitters to overcome the massive edge Republicans have in those states. Schumer said it’s up to the candidates themselves — and Harris — to not veer too far to the left:
— Andrew Desiderio
