Scoop: Schumer-linked Super PAC raised $119 million in Q3
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The Senate Majority PAC (SMP) raised $119 million in the third quarter, leaving it with $109 million at the beginning of this month to try to keep Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in power, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Both parties are flooding the airwaves in the campaign's closing weeks. The massive number from SMP, which is closely affiliated with Schumer (D-N.Y.), ensures that Democrats will have plenty to spend on ads as they seek to keep Republicans from winning control of the Senate.
- The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC associated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), will report its Q3 fundraising numbers Tuesday.
- For the entire cycle, SMP will report that it raised $286 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
What they're saying: "Senate Majority PAC's record-breaking fundraising is a testament to the momentum propelling Democrats forward in the final weeks before Election Day," JB Poersch, the president of SMP, told Axios in a statement.
- "For more than a year, SMP has played a critical role introducing Republicans' slate of extreme, out-of-touch candidates to voters," he said.
Flashback: At the end of the second quarter, SMP outraised SLF $44 million to $41 million, Axios reported.
Zoom out: Most Democratic incumbents and challengers have brought in more money than their Republican opponents, forcing the GOP to lean heavily on SLF and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
- The NRSC raised $30.7 million last month, bringing its total for the cycle to $231.1 million, according to Semafor.
- In Ohio, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown trounced Bernie Moreno, bringing in $31 million to Moreno's $4 million in the third quarter.
Zoom in: Republicans are privately optimistic that they will win 52 seats in November, handing them the majority by taking the Senate contests in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.
- But in Ohio, Moreno is still trailing Brown, according to internal SLF polling, according to Politico.
