Democrats in certain key Senate races are raising more small-dollar donations than their Republican challengers, indicating significant levels of support among everyday Americans and providing their campaigns with critical resources.
Democrats running in 10 highly competitive Senate races on the ballot this year are ahead of Republican challengers by a combined total of over $75 million in small-dollar donations, according to information gathered by Axios. Small-dollar donors are those giving less than $200. Such individuals would be legally allowed to donate to their preferred candidate or candidates again, helping keep the Democratic fundraising operation running rather than leaving the Dems looking for donations. Presumably, the Axios totals include any multiple small-dollar donations provided by the same individual over the currently unfolding campaign cycle, as long as the amounts of individual donations remain below $200.
“A concerted Republican effort to build a small-dollar fundraising apparatus independent of Trump’s brand appears to be faltering, while Democrats are building on the massive grassroots financial success they saw in 2020,” as Axios summarized things. As for specifics, Herschel Walker — the Trump-backed Republican and serial liar running in Georgia — brought in almost $8 million in small-dollar donations through the end of June. Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock, who’s running against Walker, raised $14 million in small-dollar donations in that same period, which would presumably extend back to the beginning of the currently unfolding election cycle in Axios’s calculations. On a similar note, Florida Democratic Rep. Val Demings has raised more than twice as much small-dollar money as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), against whom she’s running for the seat Rubio holds (although Demings technically still must win the primary).
In Arizona, incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Kelly 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. Republicans, Axios notes, are relying in significant part on high-dollar fundraising. A couple of key Senate races exemplify that trend: in Ohio, Republican nominee and Trump endorsement-recipient J.D. Vance posts paltry campaign fundraising numbers compared to Democratic challenger Rep. Tim Ryan, but Vance’s campaign is supported by a super PAC where billionaire Peter Thiel has donated $15 million since March 2021. In Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz — aka Dr. Oz, Trump’s pick — spent $12 million of his own money funding his barely successful primary campaign.
One other notable feature of recent GOP fundraising this year is that Donald Trump ended up behind Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in his total for the first six months, according to available information — although those numbers didn’t seem to capture every single dollar Trump raised. Still, a key joint fundraising committee for the former president brought in millions of dollars less than DeSantis raised so far this year. In addition, a recent New Hampshire poll found DeSantis ahead of Trump among likely GOP presidential primary voters in the state. Obviously, it’s far too early to make conclusive predictions, but Trump isn’t as unbeatable as he might claim to be. Read more — including regarding the (limited) GOP fundraising progress in the midterms — at this link.
