Comment Republican Senate candidates are being crushed on the airwaves across the country as their national campaign coffers pull ads and run out of cash — leading some campaign advisers to ask where all the money went and demand an audit of the committee’s finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions. In a highly unusual move, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week canceled about $10 million worth of reservations, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. A spokesman said the NRSC is not abandoning those races, but is prioritizing commercial spots that are shared with campaigns and benefit from discounted rates. However, cancellations lose cheaper prices that came from early booking, and the best budget could have covered both. “The fact that they canceled those reservations was a huge problem — you can’t get them back,” said one Senate Republican strategist, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “You can’t win an election if you don’t have money to run ads.” The NRSC’s retreat came after months of record fundraising, which has topped $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has destroyed nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash holdings down to $28.4 million by the end of June. Since that month, the commission revealed it spent just $23 million on ads, with more than $21 million going to text messages and more than $12 million to an American Express credit card payments, the ultimate purpose of which is not clear from the filings. The committee also spent at least $13 million on consultants, $9 million on debt payments and more than $7.9 million on mailing list rentals, campaign finance records show. Trump’s dominance of the GOP is coming into focus, worrying some in the party “If it was a company, the CEO would be fired and investigated,” said a national Republican consultant who works on Senate races. “The way this money was burned, there needs to be an audit or investigation because we will not get the Senate now and this money has been wasted. It’s a reversal.” NRSC chairman Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and has released his own political agenda that has become a punching bag for Democrats — leading to jokes that “NRSC” stood for “National Rick”. Scott Committee” in an effort to fuel his own alleged presidential ambitions. Other spending decisions, such as putting about $1 million into reliable blues Colorado and Washington earlier this month sparked new questions after the committee pivoted and canceled purchases in key battlegrounds. NRSC has invested heavily in expanding digital fundraising and building its database of small-dollar donors. But online giving to Republicans, not just the NRSC, slipped earlier this year from what advisers said was a combination of inflation, changes in Facebook advertising policies, concerns about emails getting caught in spam filters and complacency with an expected Republican wave. Some Republicans also suspect that former President Donald Trump’s relentless fundraising stances and hoardings of cash have depleted the party’s online donor base. The NRSC still has tens of millions of dollars in reserved airtime, and its next filing, which covers the month of July and is due to the FEC on Saturday, will show millions more in advertising expenses. On Friday, the NRSC announced it had rebooked air time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. “Our goal has been to keep our candidates alive and get them to that point where they’re still in the game in all of our top states,” said NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline. “So when the big spending starts now, we have a fighting chance.” That big spending comes from a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who this week announced a massive $28 million bailout effort in Ohio, where Republican candidate JD Vance has raised a dismal $1 million in the second quarter and has spent less than $400,000 on advertising. Pa’s race. is no longer a failure as Fetterman marks Oz’s wealth The super PAC, known as the Senate Leadership Fund, also increased its spending in Pennsylvania by three weeks and added $9.5 million there, for a total of $34 million. Recent polls show the Keystone state Senate race is drifting toward Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman over Republican candidate celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. McConnell himself acknowledged the challenge of regaining the House majority, telling reporters in Kentucky on Thursday that the House was more likely to flip. “The quality of the candidates has a lot to do with the outcome,” he said, according to NBC News, a comment widely seen as a jab at some of the early winners and their lagging fundraising performance. The NRSC opted not to pick a favorite in this year’s primary contests, a break from the past decade, when the committee worked to avoid the non-incumbent candidates that cost the party victories in 2010 and 2012. Many of this year’s Republican candidates have resorted to I had not run before and emerged from a nasty, expensive primary that left their favorable ratings under water. A series of recent polls have shown Republican candidates in many battlegrounds trailing or in conflict with well-funded Democratic rivals. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than double in Arizona Senate race. nearly two to one in Nevada and four to one in Ohio, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans are also outspent by about $14 million in Georgia. “Everything came together immediately, and everybody woke up like, ‘Oh my God,’” said one Republican consultant. “It’s been an absolutely disastrous two weeks for the Senate GOP on all fronts.” After The Washington Post discussed this story with the NRSC on Friday, five Senate campaigns reached out to praise the committee’s help. “They’re focused on bringing the fight to Democrats every day,” said Gail Gitcho with the Herschel Walker Georgia campaign. “Anyone who says otherwise is crazy.” Zack Roday with Joe O’Dea’s Colorado Senate campaign added, “The NRSC has been a great partner, everything we’ve asked for.” Democrats point to signs of a newly energized base and a national political environment that is, at least, less bad for them. The party in power usually loses ground in between. Democrats More Upbeat for Midterm Elections — But Brace for GOP Spending Increase The J. Roe v. Wade as a change of dynamics in the last two months. “It’s surprising and it says a lot about the Republican brand that their candidates have struggled to raise money,” Poersch said. “With extreme candidates and extreme positions, maybe Republican donors will find those candidates out of step with where they are. Maybe voters feel the same way.” Vance’s disappointing financial report has prompted renewed urgency for air support from the McConnell-aligned super PAC, a person familiar with the planning said. The size of the market reflects the cost of statewide advertising in Ohio with its multiple media purchases and that Republicans see the state as both winnable and must-win. An affiliated nonprofit known as One Nation is spending an additional $3.8 million to help Vance against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan. Several public polls have recently shown Ryan ahead, and internal polls have found Vance in an even bigger deficit, according to people familiar with the findings. A Vance campaign adviser dismissed suggestions that the super PAC’s intervention showed weakness, saying the race was always going to be competitive. “If Washington pundits think that Trump won the state by 8, so it should be a slam dunk, they’re dead wrong,” the consultant said, referring to Trump’s margin of victory in Ohio in 2020. “Putting money on this fight shows they believe this is a fight they can win.” Vance benefited in the primary from about $10 million from an allied super PAC funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. But people involved in the race said it’s unclear whether Thiel, whose past style has been to invest early and then bow out, will put money behind Vance in the general election. Thiel also financed the Arizona Senate bid of former staffer Blake Masters, a Republican candidate. A representative for Thiel declined to comment. The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically extends spending down the stretch after Labor Day, ended June with more than $100 million in the bank. Since September, the PAC has kept $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and 7 .4 million dollars in Alaska. Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
title: “Gop Spending Under Fire As Senate Candidates Seek Bailout Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Christy Quince”
Comment Republican Senate candidates are being crushed on the airwaves across the country as their national campaign coffers pull ads and run out of cash — leading some campaign advisers to ask where all the money went and demand an audit of the committee’s finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions. In a highly unusual move, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week canceled about $10 million worth of reservations, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. A spokesman said the NRSC is not abandoning those races, but is prioritizing commercial spots that are shared with campaigns and benefit from discounted rates. However, cancellations lose cheaper prices that came from early booking, and the best budget could have covered both. “The fact that they canceled those reservations was a huge problem — you can’t get them back,” said one Senate Republican strategist, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “You can’t win an election if you don’t have money to run ads.” The NRSC’s retreat came after months of record fundraising, which has topped $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has destroyed nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash holdings down to $28.4 million by the end of June. Since that month, the commission revealed it spent just $23 million on ads, with more than $21 million going to text messages and more than $12 million to an American Express credit card payments, the ultimate purpose of which is not clear from the filings. The committee also spent at least $13 million on consultants, $9 million on debt payments and more than $7.9 million on mailing list rentals, campaign finance records show. Trump’s dominance of the GOP is coming into focus, worrying some in the party “If it was a company, the CEO would be fired and investigated,” said a national Republican consultant who works on Senate races. “The way this money was burned, there needs to be an audit or investigation because we will not get the Senate now and this money has been wasted. It’s a reversal.” NRSC chairman Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and has released his own political agenda that has become a punching bag for Democrats — leading to jokes that “NRSC” stood for “National Rick”. Scott Committee” in an effort to fuel his own alleged presidential ambitions. Other spending decisions, such as putting about $1 million into reliable blues Colorado and Washington earlier this month sparked new questions after the committee pivoted and canceled purchases in key battlegrounds. NRSC has invested heavily in expanding digital fundraising and building its database of small-dollar donors. But online giving to Republicans, not just the NRSC, slipped earlier this year from what advisers said was a combination of inflation, changes in Facebook advertising policies, concerns about emails getting caught in spam filters and complacency with an expected Republican wave. Some Republicans also suspect that former President Donald Trump’s relentless fundraising stances and hoardings of cash have depleted the party’s online donor base. The NRSC still has tens of millions of dollars in reserved airtime, and its next filing, which covers the month of July and is due to the FEC on Saturday, will show millions more in advertising expenses. On Friday, the NRSC announced it had rebooked air time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. “Our goal has been to keep our candidates alive and get them to that point where they’re still in the game in all of our top states,” said NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline. “So when the big spending starts now, we have a fighting chance.” That big spending comes from a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who this week announced a massive $28 million bailout effort in Ohio, where Republican candidate JD Vance has raised a dismal $1 million in the second quarter and has spent less than $400,000 on advertising. Pa’s race. is no longer a failure as Fetterman marks Oz’s wealth The super PAC, known as the Senate Leadership Fund, also increased its spending in Pennsylvania by three weeks and added $9.5 million there, for a total of $34 million. Recent polls show the Keystone state Senate race is drifting toward Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman over Republican candidate celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. McConnell himself acknowledged the challenge of regaining the House majority, telling reporters in Kentucky on Thursday that the House was more likely to flip. “The quality of the candidates has a lot to do with the outcome,” he said, according to NBC News, a comment widely seen as a jab at some of the early winners and their lagging fundraising performance. The NRSC opted not to pick a favorite in this year’s primary contests, a break from the past decade, when the committee worked to avoid the non-incumbent candidates that cost the party victories in 2010 and 2012. Many of this year’s Republican candidates have resorted to I had not run before and emerged from a nasty, expensive primary that left their favorable ratings under water. A series of recent polls have shown Republican candidates in many battlegrounds trailing or in conflict with well-funded Democratic rivals. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than double in Arizona Senate race. nearly two to one in Nevada and four to one in Ohio, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans are also outspent by about $14 million in Georgia. “Everything came together immediately, and everybody woke up like, ‘Oh my God,’” said one Republican consultant. “It’s been an absolutely disastrous two weeks for the Senate GOP on all fronts.” After The Washington Post discussed this story with the NRSC on Friday, five Senate campaigns reached out to praise the committee’s help. “They’re focused on bringing the fight to Democrats every day,” said Gail Gitcho with the Herschel Walker Georgia campaign. “Anyone who says otherwise is crazy.” Zack Roday with Joe O’Dea’s Colorado Senate campaign added, “The NRSC has been a great partner, everything we’ve asked for.” Democrats point to signs of a newly energized base and a national political environment that is, at least, less bad for them. The party in power usually loses ground in between. Democrats More Upbeat for Midterm Elections — But Brace for GOP Spending Increase The J. Roe v. Wade as a change of dynamics in the last two months. “It’s surprising and it says a lot about the Republican brand that their candidates have struggled to raise money,” Poersch said. “With extreme candidates and extreme positions, maybe Republican donors will find those candidates out of step with where they are. Maybe voters feel the same way.” Vance’s disappointing financial report has prompted renewed urgency for air support from the McConnell-aligned super PAC, a person familiar with the planning said. The size of the market reflects the cost of statewide advertising in Ohio with its multiple media purchases and that Republicans see the state as both winnable and must-win. An affiliated nonprofit known as One Nation is spending an additional $3.8 million to help Vance against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan. Several public polls have recently shown Ryan ahead, and internal polls have found Vance in an even bigger deficit, according to people familiar with the findings. A Vance campaign adviser dismissed suggestions that the super PAC’s intervention showed weakness, saying the race was always going to be competitive. “If Washington pundits think that Trump won the state by 8, so it should be a slam dunk, they’re dead wrong,” the consultant said, referring to Trump’s margin of victory in Ohio in 2020. “Putting money on this fight shows they believe this is a fight they can win.” Vance benefited in the primary from about $10 million from an allied super PAC funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. But people involved in the race said it’s unclear whether Thiel, whose past style has been to invest early and then bow out, will put money behind Vance in the general election. Thiel also financed the Arizona Senate bid of former staffer Blake Masters, a Republican candidate. A representative for Thiel declined to comment. The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically extends spending down the stretch after Labor Day, ended June with more than $100 million in the bank. Since September, the PAC has kept $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and 7 .4 million dollars in Alaska. Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
title: “Gop Spending Under Fire As Senate Candidates Seek Bailout Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-18” author: “Matthew Wright”
Comment Republican Senate candidates are being crushed on the airwaves across the country as their national campaign coffers pull ads and run out of cash — leading some campaign advisers to ask where all the money went and demand an audit of the committee’s finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions. In a highly unusual move, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week canceled about $10 million worth of reservations, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. A spokesman said the NRSC is not abandoning those races, but is prioritizing commercial spots that are shared with campaigns and benefit from discounted rates. However, cancellations lose cheaper prices that came from early booking, and the best budget could have covered both. “The fact that they canceled those reservations was a huge problem — you can’t get them back,” said one Senate Republican strategist, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “You can’t win an election if you don’t have money to run ads.” The NRSC’s retreat came after months of record fundraising, which has topped $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has destroyed nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash holdings down to $28.4 million by the end of June. Since that month, the commission revealed it spent just $23 million on ads, with more than $21 million going to text messages and more than $12 million to an American Express credit card payments, the ultimate purpose of which is not clear from the filings. The committee also spent at least $13 million on consultants, $9 million on debt payments and more than $7.9 million on mailing list rentals, campaign finance records show. Trump’s dominance of the GOP is coming into focus, worrying some in the party “If it was a company, the CEO would be fired and investigated,” said a national Republican consultant who works on Senate races. “The way this money was burned, there needs to be an audit or investigation because we will not get the Senate now and this money has been wasted. It’s a reversal.” NRSC chairman Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and has released his own political agenda that has become a punching bag for Democrats — leading to jokes that “NRSC” stood for “National Rick”. Scott Committee” in an effort to fuel his own alleged presidential ambitions. Other spending decisions, such as putting about $1 million into reliable blues Colorado and Washington earlier this month sparked new questions after the committee pivoted and canceled purchases in key battlegrounds. NRSC has invested heavily in expanding digital fundraising and building its database of small-dollar donors. But online giving to Republicans, not just the NRSC, slipped earlier this year from what advisers said was a combination of inflation, changes in Facebook advertising policies, concerns about emails getting caught in spam filters and complacency with an expected Republican wave. Some Republicans also suspect that former President Donald Trump’s relentless fundraising stances and hoardings of cash have depleted the party’s online donor base. The NRSC still has tens of millions of dollars in reserved airtime, and its next filing, which covers the month of July and is due to the FEC on Saturday, will show millions more in advertising expenses. On Friday, the NRSC announced it had rebooked air time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. “Our goal has been to keep our candidates alive and get them to that point where they’re still in the game in all of our top states,” said NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline. “So when the big spending starts now, we have a fighting chance.” That big spending comes from a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who this week announced a massive $28 million bailout effort in Ohio, where Republican candidate JD Vance has raised a dismal $1 million in the second quarter and has spent less than $400,000 on advertising. Pa’s race. is no longer a failure as Fetterman marks Oz’s wealth The super PAC, known as the Senate Leadership Fund, also increased its spending in Pennsylvania by three weeks and added $9.5 million there, for a total of $34 million. Recent polls show the Keystone state Senate race is drifting toward Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman over Republican candidate celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. McConnell himself acknowledged the challenge of regaining the House majority, telling reporters in Kentucky on Thursday that the House was more likely to flip. “The quality of the candidates has a lot to do with the outcome,” he said, according to NBC News, a comment widely seen as a jab at some of the early winners and their lagging fundraising performance. The NRSC opted not to pick a favorite in this year’s primary contests, a break from the past decade, when the committee worked to avoid the non-incumbent candidates that cost the party victories in 2010 and 2012. Many of this year’s Republican candidates have resorted to I had not run before and emerged from a nasty, expensive primary that left their favorable ratings under water. A series of recent polls have shown Republican candidates in many battlegrounds trailing or in conflict with well-funded Democratic rivals. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than double in Arizona Senate race. nearly two to one in Nevada and four to one in Ohio, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans are also outspent by about $14 million in Georgia. “Everything came together immediately, and everybody woke up like, ‘Oh my God,’” said one Republican consultant. “It’s been an absolutely disastrous two weeks for the Senate GOP on all fronts.” After The Washington Post discussed this story with the NRSC on Friday, five Senate campaigns reached out to praise the committee’s help. “They’re focused on bringing the fight to Democrats every day,” said Gail Gitcho with the Herschel Walker Georgia campaign. “Anyone who says otherwise is crazy.” Zack Roday with Joe O’Dea’s Colorado Senate campaign added, “The NRSC has been a great partner, everything we’ve asked for.” Democrats point to signs of a newly energized base and a national political environment that is, at least, less bad for them. The party in power usually loses ground in between. Democrats More Upbeat for Midterm Elections — But Brace for GOP Spending Increase The J. Roe v. Wade as a change of dynamics in the last two months. “It’s surprising and it says a lot about the Republican brand that their candidates have struggled to raise money,” Poersch said. “With extreme candidates and extreme positions, maybe Republican donors will find those candidates out of step with where they are. Maybe voters feel the same way.” Vance’s disappointing financial report has prompted renewed urgency for air support from the McConnell-aligned super PAC, a person familiar with the planning said. The size of the market reflects the cost of statewide advertising in Ohio with its multiple media purchases and that Republicans see the state as both winnable and must-win. An affiliated nonprofit known as One Nation is spending an additional $3.8 million to help Vance against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan. Several public polls have recently shown Ryan ahead, and internal polls have found Vance in an even bigger deficit, according to people familiar with the findings. A Vance campaign adviser dismissed suggestions that the super PAC’s intervention showed weakness, saying the race was always going to be competitive. “If Washington pundits think that Trump won the state by 8, so it should be a slam dunk, they’re dead wrong,” the consultant said, referring to Trump’s margin of victory in Ohio in 2020. “Putting money on this fight shows they believe this is a fight they can win.” Vance benefited in the primary from about $10 million from an allied super PAC funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. But people involved in the race said it’s unclear whether Thiel, whose past style has been to invest early and then bow out, will put money behind Vance in the general election. Thiel also financed the Arizona Senate bid of former staffer Blake Masters, a Republican candidate. A representative for Thiel declined to comment. The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically extends spending down the stretch after Labor Day, ended June with more than $100 million in the bank. Since September, the PAC has kept $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and 7 .4 million dollars in Alaska. Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
title: “Gop Spending Under Fire As Senate Candidates Seek Bailout Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-09” author: “Richard Anderson”
Comment Republican Senate candidates are being crushed on the airwaves across the country as their national campaign coffers pull ads and run out of cash — leading some campaign advisers to ask where all the money went and demand an audit of the committee’s finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions. In a highly unusual move, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week canceled about $10 million worth of reservations, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. A spokesman said the NRSC is not abandoning those races, but is prioritizing commercial spots that are shared with campaigns and benefit from discounted rates. However, cancellations lose cheaper prices that came from early booking, and the best budget could have covered both. “The fact that they canceled those reservations was a huge problem — you can’t get them back,” said one Senate Republican strategist, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “You can’t win an election if you don’t have money to run ads.” The NRSC’s retreat came after months of record fundraising, which has topped $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has destroyed nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash holdings down to $28.4 million by the end of June. Since that month, the commission revealed it spent just $23 million on ads, with more than $21 million going to text messages and more than $12 million to an American Express credit card payments, the ultimate purpose of which is not clear from the filings. The committee also spent at least $13 million on consultants, $9 million on debt payments and more than $7.9 million on mailing list rentals, campaign finance records show. Trump’s dominance of the GOP is coming into focus, worrying some in the party “If it was a company, the CEO would be fired and investigated,” said a national Republican consultant who works on Senate races. “The way this money was burned, there needs to be an audit or investigation because we will not get the Senate now and this money has been wasted. It’s a reversal.” NRSC chairman Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and has released his own political agenda that has become a punching bag for Democrats — leading to jokes that “NRSC” stood for “National Rick”. Scott Committee” in an effort to fuel his own alleged presidential ambitions. Other spending decisions, such as putting about $1 million into reliable blues Colorado and Washington earlier this month sparked new questions after the committee pivoted and canceled purchases in key battlegrounds. NRSC has invested heavily in expanding digital fundraising and building its database of small-dollar donors. But online giving to Republicans, not just the NRSC, slipped earlier this year from what advisers said was a combination of inflation, changes in Facebook advertising policies, concerns about emails getting caught in spam filters and complacency with an expected Republican wave. Some Republicans also suspect that former President Donald Trump’s relentless fundraising stances and hoardings of cash have depleted the party’s online donor base. The NRSC still has tens of millions of dollars in reserved airtime, and its next filing, which covers the month of July and is due to the FEC on Saturday, will show millions more in advertising expenses. On Friday, the NRSC announced it had rebooked air time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. “Our goal has been to keep our candidates alive and get them to that point where they’re still in the game in all of our top states,” said NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline. “So when the big spending starts now, we have a fighting chance.” That big spending comes from a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who this week announced a massive $28 million bailout effort in Ohio, where Republican candidate JD Vance has raised a dismal $1 million in the second quarter and has spent less than $400,000 on advertising. Pa’s race. is no longer a failure as Fetterman marks Oz’s wealth The super PAC, known as the Senate Leadership Fund, also increased its spending in Pennsylvania by three weeks and added $9.5 million there, for a total of $34 million. Recent polls show the Keystone state Senate race is drifting toward Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman over Republican candidate celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. McConnell himself acknowledged the challenge of regaining the House majority, telling reporters in Kentucky on Thursday that the House was more likely to flip. “The quality of the candidates has a lot to do with the outcome,” he said, according to NBC News, a comment widely seen as a jab at some of the early winners and their lagging fundraising performance. The NRSC opted not to pick a favorite in this year’s primary contests, a break from the past decade, when the committee worked to avoid the non-incumbent candidates that cost the party victories in 2010 and 2012. Many of this year’s Republican candidates have resorted to I had not run before and emerged from a nasty, expensive primary that left their favorable ratings under water. A series of recent polls have shown Republican candidates in many battlegrounds trailing or in conflict with well-funded Democratic rivals. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than double in Arizona Senate race. nearly two to one in Nevada and four to one in Ohio, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans are also outspent by about $14 million in Georgia. “Everything came together immediately, and everybody woke up like, ‘Oh my God,’” said one Republican consultant. “It’s been an absolutely disastrous two weeks for the Senate GOP on all fronts.” After The Washington Post discussed this story with the NRSC on Friday, five Senate campaigns reached out to praise the committee’s help. “They’re focused on bringing the fight to Democrats every day,” said Gail Gitcho with the Herschel Walker Georgia campaign. “Anyone who says otherwise is crazy.” Zack Roday with Joe O’Dea’s Colorado Senate campaign added, “The NRSC has been a great partner, everything we’ve asked for.” Democrats point to signs of a newly energized base and a national political environment that is, at least, less bad for them. The party in power usually loses ground in between. Democrats More Upbeat for Midterm Elections — But Brace for GOP Spending Increase The J. Roe v. Wade as a change of dynamics in the last two months. “It’s surprising and it says a lot about the Republican brand that their candidates have struggled to raise money,” Poersch said. “With extreme candidates and extreme positions, maybe Republican donors will find those candidates out of step with where they are. Maybe voters feel the same way.” Vance’s disappointing financial report has prompted renewed urgency for air support from the McConnell-aligned super PAC, a person familiar with the planning said. The size of the market reflects the cost of statewide advertising in Ohio with its multiple media purchases and that Republicans see the state as both winnable and must-win. An affiliated nonprofit known as One Nation is spending an additional $3.8 million to help Vance against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan. Several public polls have recently shown Ryan ahead, and internal polls have found Vance in an even bigger deficit, according to people familiar with the findings. A Vance campaign adviser dismissed suggestions that the super PAC’s intervention showed weakness, saying the race was always going to be competitive. “If Washington pundits think that Trump won the state by 8, so it should be a slam dunk, they’re dead wrong,” the consultant said, referring to Trump’s margin of victory in Ohio in 2020. “Putting money on this fight shows they believe this is a fight they can win.” Vance benefited in the primary from about $10 million from an allied super PAC funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. But people involved in the race said it’s unclear whether Thiel, whose past style has been to invest early and then bow out, will put money behind Vance in the general election. Thiel also financed the Arizona Senate bid of former staffer Blake Masters, a Republican candidate. A representative for Thiel declined to comment. The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically extends spending down the stretch after Labor Day, ended June with more than $100 million in the bank. Since September, the PAC has kept $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and 7 .4 million dollars in Alaska. Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
