Republican election strategists are beginning to worry about their odds of holding the Senate following major Democratic party fundraising hauls that have radically outpaced those of their conservative opponents’.
According to The Wall Street Journal , alarm bells started ringing after Democratic contestants in the 11 most competitive Senate races — including those in North Carolina, Maine, and Arizona — managed to collect a $67.3 million in second-quarter fundraising. Meanwhile, Republican candidates pulled in $20 million less than their counterparts.
Part of the reason behind the Democrats’ substantially larger war chest has come from a focus on small-scale grassroots online donations. Experts have noted that the party has been better at adapting to political changes brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has limited traditional big-scale events.
One of the winners of recent Democratic donations includes Arizona candidate Mark Kelly. Kelly out-raised current Senator Martha McSally for the second quarter in row, and currently leads over McSally by as much as $13 million.
Another winner is Maine candidate Sara Gideon, who hopes to offer a left-wing challenge current Senator Susan Collins. In the second quarter, Gideon raised $9.4 million, more than two a half times the $3.6 million that Collins managed to collect.
Collins’s campaign, meanwhile, has hit back at the numbers.
“Our campaign has always known we would be out-raised and outspent,” said one spokesperson.
Though Republicans have recently improved in their online outreach, they remain “light-years away from where we need to be as a party,” explained National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Kevin McLaughlin.
“It’s a serious fundraising disparity that jeopardizes our Senate majority, and Republican senators need to wake up and develop a small-dollar program or they’ll be out of a job,” added Michael Duncan, a digital strategist who is currently working on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign.
The difference in coffers has meant that many races that did not appear to be competitive in earlier analyses are now being looked at as potential toss-ups.
“The Republicans are playing more on the defensive. Their map is getting larger, not smaller,” warned Scott Reed, senior political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re scared to death by what we see,” confessed a GOP strategist.
The threat of losing the upper chamber is not the only bad news facing conservatives, as recent polling consistently shows President Donald Trump trailing Joe Biden. Worse still, a CNBC/Change research poll showed Trump trailing not only in terms of national numbers, but also in six key swing states, as The Inquisitr recently reported.