‘Massive Financial Disparity’: Republican Leadership Laments Dire Fundraising Situation

Behind closed doors and in public appearances, GOP leaders are raising the alarm over the commanding monetary lead Democrats have built up as November’s election inches closer.

Democrats had an advertisement spending advantage in nearly every competitive Senate race as of August and the Congressional Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC aimed at electing Republicans to the House, is $70 million behind its Democratic counterpart in ad spending, according to Politico. The situation has high-ranking Republicans making public and private pleas to big-dollar donors in an attempt to close the financial gap before voters head to the polls in November.

“Right now, the left-wing billionaires are massively outspending us,” Republican Montana Sen. and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Steve Daines said in his July Republican National Convention speech. “That’s what’s keeping me up at night.”

Daines ended his speech by appealing to listeners to go to a Republican fundraising website and donate to the party’s effort to retake the Senate.

Congressional Leadership Fund President Dan Conston, meanwhile, said at the GOP’s mid-August Jackson Hole retreat in Wyoming that, while he felt good about some key House races, his organization needed an additional $35 million to keep the Democrats at bay, Politico reported.

Republican North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), also agreed that the deluge of Democratic fundraising spells trouble for the GOP, according to Politico. Hudson and Conston told donors at the Wyoming retreat that the total gap between Republican and Democratic candidates in battleground races was roughly $37 million.