In past cycles, any House member raising more than $1 million in the first quarter of an off-year would be hailed as a fundraising superstar. Now that’s almost the bare minimum.
Election Day is still more than 18 months away. But candidates in competitive seats are already raking in cash. And for House incumbents who have publicized their first quarter fundraising numbers, Republicans are outpacing Democrats.
For House Republicans in districts the DCCC is targeting, Reps. Ken Calvert (Calif.), Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), Young Kim (Calif.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.), Jen Kiggans (Va.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa) and Andy Barr (R-Ky.) have all brought in more than $1 million in Q1.
For Democrats in seats that the NRCC is going after, only Rep. Eugene Vindman (Va.) has posted a fundraising total of over $1 million.
The overall picture is impressive for the most vulnerable House Republicans. On average, at-risk House Republicans raised $994,000 in Q1, substantially ahead of the $524,000 average for vulnerable House Democrats (That tally excludes Democratic Reps. Jahana Hayes (Conn.) and Janelle Bynum (Ore.), who didn’t file as of the time of writing).
And the NRCC’s list of at-risk members have an average of $1.2 million on hand, outpacing the Frontliner average of $657,000. These aren’t exact comparisons given these members aren’t facing off against each other in elections. But it shows how well Republicans have kicked off 2025 on the money front.
Things look slightly rosier, however, for Democratic challengers taking on vulnerable Republicans. Democratic hopefuls Manny Rutinel in Colorado’s 8th District, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd District and Esther Kim Varet in California’s 40th District have all raised over $1 million in Q1. No GOP challenger has posted a Q1 haul of a million or more.
Of course, money isn’t everything. With the rise of super PACs, both the House Majority PAC and the Congressional Leadership Fund end up dominating in outside spending.
And we reported last fall how Democrats enjoyed a sizable funding advantage in competitive seats down the stretch — while House Republicans still maintained their majority.
Historical watch: In the first quarter of 2023, only four vulnerable House incumbents — three Republicans and one Democrat — posted million-dollar quarters. In Q1 2023, just two challengers — Adam Frisch and now-Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.) — raised a million dollars or more. So the number of House candidate million-dollar quarters has at least doubled from the same time last cycle.
