PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — With nearly three weeks until Election Day, political parties and their committees on Friday were busy moving cash around with a sharp eye on the Senate, where control is at stake.
If Republicans net six seats, they will control the Senate for the final two years of President Barack Obama’s term. Republicans appear on track to pick up the seats they need, and Democrats are spending heavily in an attempt to stop them.
Highlights:
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SENATE CONTROL TOP PRIORITY
Both parties’ central committees are moving more than $10 million into Senate efforts.
Worried the party might lose control of the Senate, the Democratic National Committee is upping its pledge to the party’s committee dedicated to those races. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was slated to receive $2 million from the DNC, but, on Friday, officials more than doubled that figure to $5 million.
“Transfers this large were in doubt even a few months ago, but with the support of the president, the vice president and our grassroots supporters, we were able to make it happen,” DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in an email.
Democratic officials were also working to open a line of credit that they could tap in the final weeks. Details about that decision would not be disclosed until postelection financial forms are filed on Dec. 4.
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, is borrowing $4 million to help the GOP’s Senate campaign committees and said that all new donations to the central party will be sent to competitive Senate races.
“This is the time when you double down to win,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “I feel really good about where our campaigns are, and we’re going to do everything we can to take back the Senate in November.”
The RNC also said it had sent $1.5 million to state parties to help get-out-the-vote efforts in competitive Senate races.
It’s not as though either Senate committee has been slacking on fundraising. Both set records in September; the NRSC raised $15.5 million and the DSCC raised $16 million.
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DON’T FORGET THE HOUSE
National Democrats were also more than doubling their spending on races in the House, where Republicans are expected to easily hold their majority.
The DNC on Friday said it was sending $5 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to help that uphill battle. That’s an increase from the $2 million it pledged earlier this year.
“The additional investments we’re making in the closing days of the campaign will help ensure that Democrats have the resources they need to win,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The RNC also took out a $1 million loan for the National Republican Congressional Committee to protect what is seen as a safe majority in the House. Republicans are trying to expand their control of that chamber.
Republicans have 233 seats in the House, while Democrats have 199. There are three vacancies.
Republicans are trying to reach 245 seats, the widest majority the GOP would enjoy since after the 1946 elections.
Separately, the NRCC already has secured a $20 million line of credit on its own.
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RNC RAISES ALMOST $14M IN SEPT
The RNC says it has almost $10 million banked for the final month of the campaign and spent almost twice that amount in September.
The central party raised $13.5 million last month to add to its previous balance of $14.5 million in the bank. But it began emptying its pockets to help candidates in September, spending $18.3 million — all before taking out another $5 million to help House and Senate efforts.
The DNC was expected to release its September fundraising tally before Monday’s deadline.
Heading into September, the RNC had outraised the DNC in 11 of the previous 20 months. But in 2014 alone, the DNC has outraised the RNC in six of the first eight months.
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