Democrats in Key Senate Races Outraise Republican Opponents

Democrats have raised more money than their Republican opponents in eight of the 2020 cycle’s most competitive Senate races, as left-leaning candidates saw a surge in fundraising in the first quarter of the year that narrowed the GOP’s campaign-cash advantage in the crucial contests. Combined, Democratic candidates in the 10 Senate races rated by the Cook Political Report as either tossups or leaning toward one party brought in $44.3 million this year as of the end of March, compared with $36 million for Republicans, according to new campaign finance reports filed late Wednesday.

Democrats view their strong fundraising as a sign they could flip the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. GOP candidates in the most competitive races hold a combined cash-on-hand advantage of $7.5 million, less than half the $19 million edge they had over Democrats at the end of last year. One-third of the Senate faces re-election this year, and Republicans are defending nearly twice the number of seats as Democrats.

The largest fundraising haul of those competitive races was in Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly brought in $11 million. He outstripped Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who raised $6.4 million, for the fifth quarter in a row and now has a $9.5 million cash advantage. Democrats also were the biggest fundraisers in Senate races in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Montana and North Carolina. All but one of those seats are currently held by the GOP.

In Kentucky, retired Marine Lt. Col. Amy McGrath raised $5.4 million more than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the first quarter. In South Carolina, Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison outraised GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, bringing in $7.4 million compared with Mr. Graham’s $5.7 million. And in Alaska, Democrat Al Gross, a physician, brought in $1 million, more than the $744,000 brought in by incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican.

But there were some exceptions to the Democratic fundraising boost. In the Michigan race for a seat Republicans hope to flip, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters had his best quarter this cycle with a $4.1 million haul, but that was less than the $4.8 million Republican challenger John James brought in. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst narrowly outraised Theresa Greenfield, the Democratic front-runner to challenge Ms. Ernst in November, in another of the most competitive races.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-in-key-senate-races-outraise-republican-opponents-11587058171 (subscription)