The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $6.8 million in the month of February alone. The group now has $18.1 million banked and only holds a debt of $1.2 million. This compares very favorably with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which raised less money in February ($5.5 million) and has less cash on hand ($12.75 million.)
Ahead of this year’s midterms, we’ve been inundated with doom-and-gloom predictions from prognosticators about how the Democrats will lose the Senate majority this year. Republicans have been showing tons of confidence and are basically counting their chickens before they hatch, already counting on an increased majority in the House to go along with their new majority in the Senate.
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Well, sometimes facts tend to get in the way of a good narrative. While there are always going to be legitimate concerns about voter turnout for Democrats in midterm elections, fundraising totals show that the Democratic candidates up for election are not facing a dejected base who are giving up on 2014. The DSCC is making sure to be there for their candidates with solid financial backing and donors are out there giving money to the Democrats.
A big thank you to our great @DSCC supporters. We couldn’t do this without you & have a lot more work to do together. http://t.co/eZupzKbp5l
— Guy Cecil (@guycecil) March 20, 2014
This is not to say that Democrats should be satisfied with these results and expect to hold on to the Senate. Democrats are defending 21 of the 36 seats up in this year’s midterms. Roughly half of those seats are in states considered red or purple. Democratic Senators like Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina are all facing tough reelection campaigns. Also, with the retirements of Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Max Baucus of Montana and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, it is quite likely that all three of those seats will flip.
However, at the same time, Republicans aren’t nearly as safe as they may think when it comes to defending their own seats. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is in real danger of losing his seat to Democratic challenger Alison Lundregan Grimes. Also, with Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss’ retirement, Democrat Michelle Nunn has a real chance of taking the seat, as the Republican challengers have tripped all over themselves to see who can be the most offensive.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
