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Three weeks before midterm elections, Democratic candidates across the country are shattering fundraising records, reports show.
At least 60 Democratic House candidates raised more than $1 million in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Only three Democratic House candidates reached that milestone in the third quarter of 2014, Federal Election Commission data show.
Matt Gorman, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said “there’s no doubt the Democratic base is energized and raising large sums of money.” But he said incumbent Republicans are holding their own. “Like horseshoes and hand grenades,” he said, “it’s enough to be close. We’re putting up good quarters, too.”
Federal candidates were due to file their latest FEC reports before midnight Monday, covering July, August and September. Early filings and reports from party officials pointed to record Democratic hauls powered by small donors. Some of the most striking reports: Texas Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke, who raised $38 million, and California House candidate Andrew Janz, who brought in $4.4 million.
Mr. Janz is one of eight House candidates who raised more than $3 million in the third quarter, according to the DCCC—a showing unthinkable in previous midterm elections. ActBlue, a fundraising platform that works exclusively with Democrats, reported $385 million in donations to Democratic candidates and causes in the third quarter of this year, more than it saw in the entire 2014 midterms cycle.
In 2014, Republicans gained House seats and won control of the Senate. This year, Democrats are favored to win the net 23 seats they need to control of the House, according to nonpartisan projections, while Republicans are favorites to maintain Senate control.
Virginia’s John Foust was one of the three Democratic House candidates to raise more than $1 million in the third quarter of 2014. He lost to Rep. Barbara Comstock by 16 percentage points. This year, Ms. Comstock’s Democratic opponent, Jennifer Wexton, said she raised more than $2.6 million in the same period, and polls show her significantly ahead in a race that nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates lean Democratic.
Ms. Comstock’s campaign hadn’t filed its FEC report by Monday evening.
Money could make the difference in close races, especially pricey media markets such as Northern Virginia, New York, Chicago and Seattle. Democratic House candidates had booked more than $122 million in TV commercials between the end of July and Election Day, compared with about $67 million for the GOP House candidates, according to figures provided to The Wall Street Journal by a political media tracker. GOP groups such as the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to House Speaker Paul Ryan, are helping to narrow that gap, the figures show.
Democrat Antonio Delgado, who is challenging Republican Rep. John Faso in New York’s 19th congressional district, raised $3.8 million last quarter. Mr. Delgado’s funding helped him began airing general-election ads on broadcast TV in mid-July, after winning a crowded late-June primary, according to Kantar Media/CMAG. He has steadily released new ads all summer and fall, while Mr. Faso, who raised just over $1 million last quarter, aired his first broadcast ads around Sept. 5.
New York’s 19th, which covers much of the Hudson Valley north of New York City, is a swing district that backed former President Obama in both of his presidential elections and President Trump in 2016.
Democrat Kim Schrier’s well-funded bid against Dino Rossi for an open House seat in Washington state shows that Democrats who spent heavily in contested primaries have replenished their coffers for the general election. Ms. Schrier said she raised $3.8 million in the last quarter, almost two full months of which came after her Aug. 7 primary win. Mr. Rossi’s FEC report hadn’t been filed by Monday evening.
Attack ads aired by the GOP’s Congressional Leadership Fund “seem to have backfired and actually motivated donors to support her campaign,” said Katie Rodihan, a spokeswoman for Dr. Schrier, who is a pediatrician.
It isn’t just Democrats in tight races raking in the cash. In California’s Central Valley, Mr. Janz faces long odds in ousting GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, who has been elected eight times and whose profile has risen as a strident defender of President Trump. Still, Mr. Janz raised $4.4 million in the third quarter alone, his FEC report shows. Mr. Nunes raised about $3.2 million in the same period.
—Reid J. Epstein contributed to this article.
Write to Julie Bykowicz at [email protected]
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