Senate Republican hopefuls in the ten most competitive Senate races struggle with “small-dollar” campaign contributions compared to their Democrat opponents, according to an Axios analysis of the Federal Election Commission fundraising data. At the same time, former President Donald Trump’s donations of less than $200 have flourished.
Axios’ analysis showed that Democrats are still outraising the Republicans’ best “small-dollar” fundraising in the race.
Georgia’s Senate Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, raised roughly $8 million in “unitemized” donations until June 30, the last filing deadline. Still, Democrat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock raised $14 million in “small-dollar” donations in the same amount of time.
Herschel Walker, Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, speaks during a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Furthermore, Florida’s Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio raked in nearly $12.7 million in “small-dollar” donations. Still, the analysis showed that his Democrat challenger, Rep. Val Demings, had more than double the “small-dollar” donations.
Sen. Marco Rubio arrives for the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via USA TODAY NETWORK)
And Arizona Democrat incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly had raised almost $23 million from “small-dollar” donors for his tough reelection battle, which topples his top three potential Republican challengers, who brought in less than $2 million as a whole — Blake Masters, Jim Lamon, and Mark Brnovich.
The analysis noted that only one Republican in the ten most competitive Senate races, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, has nearly edged out his Democrat challengers. Johnson has raised almost $5 million in unitemized donations, which has topped the combined total of the top three potential Democrat challengers.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) speaks on June 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
However, Trump has seen significant success in fundraising this cycle. Axios wrote that Trump is “seeing huge small-dollar fundraising success,” which has “hoovered up more than $60 million from under-$200 donors this cycle,” as he looks to use his “war chest” to help with some of the Republican midterm hopefuls.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on April 23, 2022, in Delaware, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
On the other hand, while Republicans are struggling with “small-dollar” donations, “high-dollar” donors are keeping them alive in the race. The top House and Senate super PACs are outraising their Democrat counterparts by wide margins.
In addition, the super PACs backing some campaigns, such as Ohio’s J.D. Vance and Arizona’s Blake Masters, are helping make the difference in donations.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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