It’s a good time to be a Democrat running for Congress.
Democratic candidates in the House and Senate saw a massive windfall of donations during the last three months. Incumbents from both parties posted strong fundraising. But on the challenger side, Democrats in swing seats are the most impressive.
This bodes well for a minority party desperate to reclaim the House gavel and pick up as many Senate seats as possible in the midterms.
Here are our top takeaways from the fresh trove of data:
1) Democrats outraised the GOP in almost every major Senate battleground, often by large amounts.
In Georgia, North Carolina, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, New Hampshire and Alaska, at least one Democratic candidate raised more than a Republican.
In five of those states, the Democrat raised more than $8 million in Q1: Texas state Rep. James Talarico ($27.1 million); Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia ($14 million); former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio ($10.1 million); former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ($8.8 million) and former Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska ($8.7 million).
And here is the really staggering part: None of their GOP opponents raised more than $3.5 million to their campaign accounts.
Of course, this is only part of the picture. Candidates are now using joint fundraising committees to air TV ads. Super PACs will play a big role.
GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson did raise the most in Iowa’s open Senate race. And Democratic primaries will drain some resources. But there’s no way for Republicans to spin this: Their candidates are getting crushed.
2) House Democratic challengers are raising gobs of money. Eleven of them raised more than $1 million in purple seats last quarter without heavy self-funding, per a Punchbowl News analysis of the data. That feat has become relatively normal for incumbents, but is extremely impressive for challengers.
The list: JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona ($2.4 million); Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin ($2.4 million); Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania ($2.2 million); Eileen Laubacher in Colorado ($2.1 million); Christina Bohannan of Iowa ($2.1 million); Elaine Luria in Virginia ($1.7 million); Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa ($1.7 million); Paige Cognetti in Pennsylvania ($1.5 million); Sean McCann of Michigan ($1 million); Jonathan Nez in Arizona ($1.1 million) and Nancy Lacore in South Carolina ($1 million).
3) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s major recruits didn’t outraise Democratic primary opponents.
In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills raised $2.7 million to oyster farmer Graham Platner’s $4.1 million.
In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) raised $2 million. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow raised $3 million and former health official Abdul El-Sayed raised $2.3 million.
In Iowa, state Rep. Josh Turek, the preferred pick of Democratic leaders, and state Sen. Zach Wahls both raised $1.1 million. (Turek technically raised about $220 more.)
