Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar sift through a new batch of Senate fundraising reports. Plus, Kristen Welker wraps up another week of fiery debates.
— Adam Wollner
Democratic Senate candidates swamp GOP rivals in fundraising
By Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar
Democratic candidates across more than a dozen competitive Senate races raised a combined $253 million from July through September, more than four times the $56 million raised by GOP candidates in those races, according to new fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
During the third quarter, Democratic candidates in these contests spent a combined $300 million, while Republicans spent nearly $84 million. Heading into the final month of the election, Democratic candidates had $87 million on hand compared to $56 million for the Republicans.
Republicans were outraised by their Democratic or independent opponents in all but one of the 15 races the NBC News Decision Desk rates as competitive, with Minnesota as the only exception. (Megan Brand has more today on why Republicans think former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya could have an opening there against Democratic Lt. Gov. Penny Flanagan.)
Some of the widest gaps came in states where Democrats had long established themselves as prolific fundraisers.
In the Texas Senate race, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico raised $60.2 million to state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s $10.2 million. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff raised $33.1 million while GOP Rep. Mike Collins pulled in $2.8 million. And in Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown raised $23.1 million compared to $4.8 million for Republican Sen. John Husted.
Democratic candidates’ massive fundraising advantage in some of these states, particularly those that Republicans have won comfortably in recent elections, underscores how the battle for the Senate majority has grown more competitive in the final midterm stretch.
It’s also a major reason why Republican outside groups have rushed in to help make up the difference, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the airwaves.
Most notably, tech billionaire Elon Musk gave another quarter-billion dollars to GOP groups in recent months. More than half of that money, $158 million, went to the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate GOP leadership. SLF transferred that same amount to Texas PAC, which has boosted Paxton in Musk’s home state.
There are pros and cons of money going directly to candidates’ campaigns versus the outside groups supporting them. Donors are able to give larger amounts to outside groups, which aren’t subject to contribution limits. But candidates are able to get better rates for TV ads and inherently have greater control over how money is spent when it’s in their own accounts.
Tensions boil over as the midterms enter crunch time
Analysis by Kristen Welker
Less than three weeks before Election Day, tensions are boiling over in the heated battle for control of Washington. Just look at what we’ve seen from candidates on the campaign trail this week.
Debates have been fiery. Maine Democrat Troy Jackson told Republican Sen. Susan Collins to “shut up” after she claimed a protester at their showdown yesterday was a supporter of his. Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan called reports about turmoil in Democrat Mary Peltola’s office indicative of a “character flaw.” And in Georgia’s Senate race, Democratic Sen. John Ossoff asked Republican Rep. Mike Collins if he considers himself a “white nationalist,” while Collins blasted Ossoff over a top Democratic donor appearing in the Epstein files.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are barnstorming the county to rally Republicans and leaning on similar frustrations to motivate Republicans. Both have reserved some of their harshest criticism for Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, whom Vance called a “little weasel” and Trump has called a “jihadist.”
It all underscores a key dynamic shaping the closing weeks of the midterms: Trump’s sagging approval rating and voters’ frustration with his handling of the economy is forcing the GOP onto their back heels, giving Democrats the chance to press further into red turf.
It’s why we’re seeing Republican groups start to triage House races and cut off incumbents they had hoped could defend their seats, in favor of shoring up more favorable districts. A similar situation has been playing out in the Senate, where money is leaving North Carolina and going into places like Kansas and South Carolina.
And it’s why you’re seeing Republicans in battleground races increasingly put distance between themselves and Trump on issues like tariffs and the Iran war on the debate stage and campaign trail.
It’s worth emphasizing that the die is not cast. Republicans are playing defense, but they’re doing so in their own territory — and they have hundreds of millions of dollars in outside money at their disposal.
But it’s clear that the environment continues to break in Democrats’ direction. And the big question is whether Republicans will be able to keep the bottom from falling out — with an assist from the GOP-leaning map — or if voters’ frustration with the party in power will lead to a widespread rebuke at the ballot box.
We’ll discuss all this and more this Sunday on “Meet the Press,” where I’ll speak with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who has been barnstorming Southern states in support of Democratic candidates, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Steve Kornacki will also join us to unveil the results from our latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll.
- 🎤 Blink of an eye: Katie Zacharia is out as White House secretary after just five days on the job, following a widely panned first press briefing and the revelation that she represented herself as a lawyer but did not pass her bar exam. Read more →
- 🛣️ On the trail: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., campaigned today for the Democratic candidate in Florida’s heavily Hispanic 27th District, which Trump carried by 15 points in 2024. He told NBC News it’s one of “an abundance of options” for his party to flip seats this fall. Read more →
- 🗳️ Down the ballot: Democrats are eyeing up to right states where they could win control of the governorship and the Legislature this fall. Read more →
- 💧 Back to basics: Access to clean water has emerged as a key issue in races for governor in Arizona, Iowa and Michigan. Read more →
- 🛢️ Oil watch: A key oil price benchmark surged today to its highest level in five months, as investors assessed the impact of both the Iran and Ukraine-Russia wars on global energy supplies. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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