PAC raises record $61M in 2019

Senate Democrats' super PAC raises record $61M in 2019

That math has Democrats seeing a viable path back to control of the Senate.

By JAMES ARKIN

Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, raised $61 million in 2019, a record sum that will boost Democrats as they seek to recapture the Senate this year.

The fundraising total, which was shared first with POLITICO, shattered the group's previous off-year fundraising records from recent election cycles and topped their GOP counterpart's haul for last year. The super PAC entered 2020 with more than $47 million in the bank, more than triple the $13.7 million it had at the same point two years ago.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and the GOP is defending 23 seats to just 12 for Democrats this year. At least a half-dozen GOP seats are considered battlegrounds, while Democrats are defending two or three vulnerable incumbents. Democrats must net three seats to win back control of the chamber if they also win the White House.

That math has Democrats seeing a viable path back to control of the Senate, six years after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans took the majority.

“Our record-breaking fundraising haul is another sign that the American people are fed up with Senate Republicans toeing the McConnell line,” Senate Majority PAC President J.B. Poersch said in a statement. “We start 2020 with the momentum and resources necessary to compete deep into the Senate map, while Senate Republicans are forced to defend vulnerable incumbents who become more unpopular by the day.”

The vast majority of the super PAC's fundraising haul — about $47 million — came in the second half of this year, after the raised $13.6 million in the first six months of 2019. Full details of Senate Majority PAC's fundraising will be available in their filing with the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 31.

Senate Majority PAC outraised its Republican counterpart, Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with McConnell, and entered the year with more cash in the bank than the GOP super PAC.

The Republican SLF raised $27.3 million in the off year, and had $30.8 million in the bank, the Washington Post reported. Combined with an affiliated nonprofit, One Nation, and two other connected organizations, the GOP outside groups raised $68.3 million and had $68.1 million in the bank at the end of the year.

Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic group, also has an affiliated nonprofit organization, Majority Forward. A spokesperson declined to share Majority Forward‘s fundraising totals for 2019, but said the total, combined with the super PAC, topped the GOP groups’ total fundraising for the year.