9 months ago
Hundreds of millions of dollars are already flowing into the heated battle for Congress.
Campaign finance reports for major super PACs and Super Tuesday congressional primaries taking place in more than 100 districts — along with two Senate races — were due to the Federal Election Commission this week. They reveal juicy details into both the intraparty contests that will help shape the parties’ futures, as well as early signs for general election contests that will determine the control of Congress.
From a billionaire GOP proxy battle in Alabama to a Democratic incumbent at serious risk of losing her primary election early next month, these reports provided insight into big elections that could shake up Washington.
The reports detail fundraising and election expenses for January and the first two weeks of February. Here are five big money storylines you may have missed:
Adam Schiff’s spending huge amounts for Senate
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s campaign to be California's next senator is nearing presidential levels of spending on TV ads.
His campaign dropped more than $22.3 million on advertising of all forms — including TV, digital and print — in roughly six weeks. Most of that, $14.8 million, was for “video production services,” which is likely his expansive TV ad budget, including the ad buys themselves. Overall, ad spending accounted for about 85 percent of his total $24.8 million in spending, a massive amount of money overall.
Schiff spent $21 million in January alone, including about $19.1 million on advertising-related expenses. By comparison: The campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump spent far less combined on TV advertising last month, according to campaign finance reports filed earlier this week. The two leading presidential contenders spent $6.6 million on advertising expenses, though that excludes any digital spending that ran through other affiliated groups.
Schiff’s mind-boggling spending is due, in part, to just how expensive it is to run a statewide campaign in California. And his dramatic fundraising advantages over his primary opponents help explain why he is the front-runner in the race so far.
One place Schiff’s campaign doesn’t measure up to presidential campaigns: staffing. He reported paying $220,000 in salary to just under 40 staff members. That’s large for a primary campaign, but trails the 110 people Biden had on his nationwide payroll in January.
There’s a billionaire proxy war in Alabama
Super Tuesday will bring a rare member-on-member primary in Alabama, where GOP Reps. Jerry Carl and Barry Moore will face off in the state’s 1st District.
The two are squaring off after a federal court redrew Alabama’s congressional districts to give Black residents more voting power. The change obliterated Moore’s original 2nd District to make way for a near-majority-Black district stretching across the state that will almost assuredly elect a Democrat in November.
That leaves Moore and Carl duking it out for a deep red seat. The two men — and their allies — have been launching attack ads back and forth accusing each other of being anti-Trump RINOs.
And the race has become a quiet proxy war between prominent GOP megadonors.
An organization called Conservatives for American Excellence has run ads attacking Moore for “stopping Trump’s border wall.” Filings this week revealed that the group has received significant funding from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and investment banker Warren Stephens.
And they’re not the only GOP donors getting into the race. School Freedom Fund, which is affiliated with the Club for Growth, has recently come in with pro-Moore ads. Businessperson Jeff Yass, shipping magnate Richard Uihlein and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus seeded the School Freedom Fund with millions of dollars last year.
Is Sheila Jackson Lee in trouble?
A primary challenge against a 15-term member of Congress wouldn’t usually be seen as a serious threat.
But Amanda Edwards, a former member of the Houston City Council, could be an exception as she takes on longtime Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in Texas’ 18th Congressional District.
Edwards, who once interned for Jackson Lee, slightly outraised her former boss in the most recent reporting period, bringing in $179,000 to the incumbent’s $164,000. But the more striking difference is in the size of their campaign coffers: Edwards has $669,000 at her disposal, almost three times as much cash on hand as Jackson Lee ($225,000).
That cash advantage could be beneficial, especially if neither receives more than 50 percent of the vote and the race goes to a runoff. A recent poll from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs shows Jackson Lee with a slight lead over Edwards, 43 percent to 38 percent.
Edwards has work to do when it comes to establishing herself with voters. During her campaign, Edwards has advocated for “change” in office.
But even with her high name ID, Jackson Lee’s standing is shaky, coming off a tough loss in last year’s Houston mayoral race. She announced that she was running for reelection shortly after her defeat in December, setting her far behind in fundraising: Edwards outraised Jackson Lee in the fourth quarter of 2023 as well, $272,000 to $23,000.
Several major California challengers spent more than they raised
A handful of swing districts in California could decide control of the U.S. House. But many challengers in those key races are not exactly flush with cash for the general election, Thursday’s reports show.
In the state’s 9th District, Republican Kevin Lincoln, the mayor of Stockton, seems likely to advance to the general election to face Democratic Rep. Josh Harder, a top NRCC target this cycle. But Lincoln raised just $44,000 over the first six weeks of the year while spending $115,000. He had $224,000 cash in the bank as of Feb. 14, compared to nearly $2.8 million for Harder.
Over in the 49th District, where the NRCC is targeting Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, GOP candidates Margarita Wilkinson and Matt Gunderson spent around $1 million and $750,000 respectively over the month and a half of 2024 while taking in relatively few contributions. Both candidates have largely self-funded their campaigns; if either makes it to the general election to face Levin, they may need to kick in a lot more money. Two other Republicans, Marine veteran Kate Monroe and auto executive Sheryl Adams, also have a shot of making it through the top-two primary, but they would need to substantially up their fundraising after bringing in just over $30,000 and $6,000, respectively, in the six-week period.
On the other side of the aisle, a tough Democratic primary to replace Rep. Katie Porter in the 27th District has been financially draining. Both Dave Min and Joanna Weiss spent hundreds of thousands more than they raised during the first six weeks of the year, leaving Min with only $224,000 in the bank and Weiss with $613,000.
Scott Baugh, the Republican likely to make it through the top-two primary in the district, only raised $78,000 in that time — but he also spent just over $95,000, leaving his campaign with $1.7 million in the bank. That gives him a substantial financial leg up at the start of the general election cycle, with Min or Weiss having some catching up to do.
Some big super PACs are gearing up
This week’s deadlines gave us a closer look at three super PACs that are poised to be big spenders this year.
First, the crypto-industry-funded Fairshake revealed it is sitting on a huge amount of dough (in non-crypto American dollars). The group made a dramatic splash when it revealed it raised nearly $86 million last year. Filings this week showed the group taking in $6 million in January, led by donations of nearly $5 million from the Winklevoss twins of Facebook (and “The Social Network”) fame.
The group entered February with a whopping $72.9 million on hand, making it an instant player in campaigns across the country. It has already started to flex its muscles by running ads attacking Porter, one of Schiff’s opponents in the California Senate race. And the organization — part of a triumvirate of pro-crypto groups looking to spend big this year — has more than enough cash to make itself a major part of any election it wants.
And a pair of pro-Israel organizations have also pledged to play big in this year’s elections, particularly in Democratic primaries: DMFI PAC, which is run by Democratic Majority for Israel, and United Democracy Project, the super PAC arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC.
DMFI PAC recently rolled out a slate of endorsements in open primaries, and the organizations could target some members of the Squad, the band of liberal lawmakers.
DMFI is sitting on roughly $3 million, per filings from earlier this week, after receiving a $1 million donation from Deborah Simon, the scion of a shopping-mall empire and a prominent Democratic donor.
UDP reported having far more in the bank, ending January with nearly $42 million ready to deploy.
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