Democrats Blow Past GOP With Colossal Midterm Fundraising Haul

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Ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats are reporting fundraising totals substantially higher than Republicans in a key area — small-dollar donations, meaning those under $200.

The Washington Post reported on some of the new data revealing these conclusions, which reflects donations made through two key online fundraising platforms: ActBlue for the Democrats and WinRed for the Republicans. The totals reported on by the publication include amounts given in support of various individual candidates and political figures, including Biden on the Democrats’ side and Trump on the other. In January of this year, GOP supporters gave 1.26 million small-dollar donations on WinRed — in June, they made 1.21 million, so there’s actually been a slight decrease over time in their monthly totals. As could be expected, the total amount raised through those donations also slightly fell from a full $29.5 million in January to just $26.6 million in June that GOP donors contributed. ActBlue donations grew from nearly 3 million in January to 4 million in June, and the overall totals raised went from $44 million to over $64 million in June.

That means the total amount raised through small-dollar donations on ActBlue in the month of June is more than twice the GOP total. In June of this year, what sounds like small-dollar donations via ActBlue were more than twice as high as the small-dollar fundraising total through the platform from June 2018, when the U.S. was at the same point in that year’s midterm elections cycle.

While it’s obviously unclear exactly how this year’s midterm elections will eventually unfold, the small-dollar fundraising numbers — reflecting totals specifically raised online — suggest Democratic campaigns can continue to count on significant levels of resources and overall support among everyday Americans. Key Republicans in two of the arguably highest-profile Senate races this year are relying in significant part on high-dollar cash inflows. J.D. Vance, the Trump pick running in Ohio, is benefiting from a super PAC where billionaire Peter Thiel has poured in millions, and Mehmet Oz — aka Dr. Oz — has pushed millions of his own money to his Pennsylvania campaign.

According to the campaign of John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor and current Democratic pick for Senate in the state, he raised more in the second quarter of this year than any Pennsylvania Senate candidate raised in any other quarter — ever. Polling and projections suggest Fetterman maintains a high chance of victory. FiveThirtyEight, a website collecting election-related polling and projections, rates the battle for control of the Senate as basically a toss-up at this point ahead of November. Besides Pennsylvania and Ohio, other states with high-profile Senate races this year include Arizona and Georgia. Democratic Senate candidates in individual races are substantially out-raising their Republican challengers relatively across the board. In Arizona, incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D) has raised a whopping total of almost $23 million from small-dollar donors this cycle — and the combined total of three of the top contenders in the GOP primary to challenge him (including one supported by Trump) is under $2 million.