Weekend Coverage Highlights “Growing Fear Among Top Republicans” Over “Deeply Flawed Candidates In Key Senate Races” As “Democrats Rack Up Big Cash Advantage”

Axios: GOP Senate fundraising flop
CNN: Democratic Senate contenders smash fundraising records

Over the weekend, news coverage highlighted how there is “a growing fear among top Republicans that the party’s nomination of deeply flawed candidates in key Senate races” will be a major issue – all while “Democratic Senate candidates are posting blockbuster hauls” and “are outraising their Republican rivals.”

See for yourself:

MSNBC (WATCH): DSCC Chair Gary Peters Discusses Flawed GOP Candidates in Senate races across the country
PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton
July 16, 2022

Sharpton:

• I’ve read a few reports this week about a growing fear among top Republicans that the party’s nomination of deeply flawed candidates in key Senate races could impair the results.

DSCC Chair Sen. Gary Peters:

• The midterms will be about candidate choice. Voters are going to go into the voting booth this fall and they’re going to have very clear choices between the Democratic candidate for the Senate and Republicans.

• You mentioned Oz. If you look at Herschel Walker, you can’t have a more clear difference between Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, and Herschel Walker, who has clearly demonstrated time and time again he is not ready for primetime, he is simply unqualified to serve in the United States Senate.

• Voters are recognizing that and seeing that. You’re seeing that as well in the polling numbers that show our Democratic incumbents are doing very well… and our challengers are going to do the same.

• I’m increasingly confident, but it all boils down to one thing: we’ve got to make sure Democrats turn out and vote this fall. And when Democrats turn out to vote, I know we win.

Axios: Senate GOP fundraising flop
By Josh Kraushaar
July 16, 2022

• Top Senate Republican candidates turned in poor fundraising numbers in key races from Arizona to New Hampshire.

• Democratic Senate candidates are posting blockbuster hauls.

• In Arizona, the leading Republican candidate, Blake Masters, raised just $827,000 in the quarter ($1.58 million cash on hand) to $13.6 million ($24.9 million cash on hand) for Sen. Mark Kelly, the Democratic incumbent.

• In Pennsylvania, another underwhelming fundraising tally from a big-time GOP Senate candidate: Dr. Oz raised $1.6 million in the latest fundraising report, and put in $2.2 million of his own money — ending June with $1.1 million cash on hand. Democrat John Fetterman… raised $10 million ($5.5 million on hand).

• In New Hampshire, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) raised $5.07 million, to just $538,000 for her leading GOP challenger, state Senate President Chuck Morse.

CNN: Democratic Senate contenders smash fundraising records as Donald Trump’s cash pace slows
By Fredreka Schouten and David Wright
July 16, 2022

• Democratic Senate candidates in key battleground states continue to rake in massive amounts of campaign money.

• In race after race, Democratic Senate contenders are outraising their Republican rivals.

• In Pennsylvania — where the race for an open Republican seat could determine which party controls the Senate — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee, raised nearly $11 million during the second quarter, which covered the three months ended June 30 — swamping his Republican rival, celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz.

• In Nevada, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada had a second-quarter haul of $7.5 million compared with Republican challenger Adam Laxalt’s nearly $2.9 million.

• In Colorado, two-term Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet started July with a stockpile of more than $8 million — roughly 10 times the cash reserves of businessman Joe O’Dea.

• Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Arizona’s Mark Kelly… each accelerated already blistering fundraising paces, bringing in $17.2 million and nearly $13.6 million, respectively, in the second quarter.

• Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan raised $9.1 million through the end of June for his Senate bid — more than double the amount he collected in the first three months of the year. He had $3.6 million in remaining cash at the end of June.

• J.D. Vance — who won the Buckeye State’s bruising GOP Senate primary in May, aided by super PAC spending and a Trump endorsement — raised a fraction of that amount… the “Hillbilly Elegy” author ended the quarter with about $629,000 remaining in the bank and even more — nearly $883,000 — in debts.

• “Democratic Senate candidates across the battlegrounds are smashing fundraising records — and they’re powered by energized, grassroots supporters who are committed to protecting and expanding our Senate Majority that is fighting to address working families’ most pressing priorities,” Eli Cousin, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

• Also helping to drive the surge in donations, operatives say: Voter alarm over the US Supreme Court ruling last month that found there was no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion.

• The day the actual ruling was released — June 24 — and the following day marked the top two strongest fundraising days of the election cycle for the DSCC, officials with the Democrats’ Senate campaign arm have said.

Bloomberg: Democrats Rack Up Big Cash Advantage in Top Senate Battlegrounds
By Bill Allison
July 16, 2022

• Democratic candidates started July with a huge financial advantage in four of five US Senate battlegrounds that could determine which party controls the chamber next January.

• Republicans will have to overcome a mountain of Democratic cash.

MSNBC (WATCH): New Fundraising Numbers Show Major Momentum for Democrats in Some Key Senate Races
Morning Joe
July 18, 2022

• New fundraising numbers show major momentum for Democrats in some key Senate races ahead of November’s midterm elections.

• From April to June, Democratic candidates in high profile contests around the country blew away their leading Republican challengers.

See Also: Axios: GOP fears Senate debacle; Washington Post: Candidate challenges, primary scars have GOP worried about Senate chances; New York Times: A Bluer Picture; POLITICO: GOP Senate hopefuls adopt a high-risk strategy for November; USA TODAY Network – Florida: Rick Scott leads the Republican bid to regain the Senate. Those candidates are struggling; POLITICO: Senate Dems, from Bennet to Warnock, post ‘blockbuster’ money ahead of midterms; The Hill: Senate Democratic candidates post massive second-quarter hauls.

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