In the races that will determine control of the Senate, Democratic candidates outraised their Republican opponents in the first three months of the year by a combined $19 million.

Across 7 key races, Democrats brought in over $53 million to Republicans’ roughly $35 million, according to campaign finance records — and that includes a combined nearly $11 million that four of the GOP candidates lent their campaigns during the first quarter of 2024.

And while the seven Democrats — in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin — spent nearly twice as much as their Republican counterparts, they still had $84 million total in their bank accounts at the end of last month. The seven GOP candidates had less than a third of that between them: $26 million.

What You Need To Know

  • In the races that will determine control of the Senate, Democratic candidates outraised their Republican opponents in the first three months of the year by a combined $19 million
  • While the seven Democrats — in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin — spent nearly twice as much as their Republican counterparts, they still had $84 million total in their bank accounts at the end of last month
  • The seven GOP candidates had less than a third of that between them: $26 million
  • Five of the seven seats are currently held by Democrats running for reelection, with Arizona’s seat open because of the retirement of independent Sen. Kyrsen Sinema and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on the defense in Texas

Five of the seven seats are currently held by Democrats running for reelection, with Arizona’s seat open because of the retirement of independent Sen. Kyrsen Sinema and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on the defense in Texas.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the last remaining statewide elected Democrat in the increasingly red swing state, raised the most out of any candidate in these key races: he brought in $12.1 million between Jan. 1 and March 31, including $6.5 million in the last month of the quarter. His opponent, the Donald Trump-favored Bernie Moreno, raised just $2.1 million and lent himself another $1.5 million. Moreno, who made his money in car dealerships and the tech industry, has lent his campaign $4.5 million so far, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Brown had nearly $16 million in his campaign coffers as of March 31, while Moreno had just $2.1 million after a vicious and expensive primary battle that ended late last month. Recent public polling has Brown leading Moreno, but there has not been any since the primary ended.

Todd Belt, the director of George Washington University’s Political Management Program, told Spectrum News this week he expects of $100 million to be poured into the Ohio Senate race as Brown tries to help Democrats cling to their 51-49 seat majority — which will grow slimmer with the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin in deep-red West Virginia -- and President Joe Biden makes a bid for the state no Democratic presidential candidate has won since Barack Obama in 2012.

In Montana, another red state Democrat, Sen. Jon Tester, raised over twice as much as his Navy Seal veteran opponent Tim Sheehy did, even with a $500,000 loan from the aerospace businessman’s personal fortune.

And in Texas, which Democrats have long coveted and Republicans have continued to hold, Rep. Colin Allred outpaced incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz $9.5 million to around $7 million. Allred, a former NFL linebacker, has about $1 million more in the bank than Cruz despite spending over $5 million more than Cruz during the first three months of 2024.

“My opponent, a liberal Democrat named Colin Allred, is out-raising Beto O’Rourke, my last opponent, 3-to-1. They are flooding millions of dollars into Texas and the reason is simple. You remember my last reelection, it was a three-point race. I won by 2.6%,” Cruz said on Fox News earlier this month, arguing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will flood “millions into Texas, [Allred] gains three points and that’s how they win.”

In swing-state Wisconsin, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin received almost five times as many donor dollars as her Republican opponent Eric Hovde, a banker, though he loaned himself $8 million and has said he plans to spend as much as $20 million of his own money.

“The differences between our campaigns couldn’t be starker. Hovde’s in it for himself, which is why he wrote his campaign an $8 million check. Small-dollar donors accounted for just under 2% of Hovde’s total fundraising,” Baldwin’s campaign wrote in a Wednesday fundraising appeal, citing FEC data.

Beyond Wisconsin and Ohio, Biden is eyeing Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona — three states that helped propel him to the White House in 2020 — as key states for his reelection effort and the success, or failure, of his campaign could coincide with the outcomes of the Senate races there.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, outraised serial election denialist and former news broadcaster Kari Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, by a 2-to-1 margin. He ended the quarter with $9.6 million in the bank to Lake’s $2.4 million. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey has outraised multimillionaire David McCormick by just $1 million this year, but has nearly $12 million in the bank to McCormick’s roughly $2.7 million. And Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen similarly raised around $5 million and has over $13 million squirreled away. Her likely Republican opponent Sam Brown, a veteran who ran for Senate in 2022, raised $2.4 million and had around $2.3 million to spend as of March 31.

Here are the first quarter fundraising totals and latest polling numbers for the seven Senate races control of Congress’ upper chamber will hinge on this November:

Arizona

  • Rep. Ruben Gallego (D)

    • Campaign contributions: $7,533,539.46

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $7,533,539.46

    • Spending: $4,426,552.70

    • Cash on hand: $9,648,718.08

  • Kari Lake (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $3,601,362.80

    • Loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $3,601,362.80

    • Spending: $2,434,617.85

    • Cash on hand: $2,519,405.74

  • Recent polling:

Montana

  • Sen. Jon Tester (D) (Incumbent)

    • Campaign contributions: $8,030,391.67

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $8,030,391.67

    • Spending: $6,599,098.38

    • Cash on hand: $12,653,948.55

  • Tim Sheehy (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $2,594,948.64

    • Personal loans: $500,000.00

    • Total receipts: $3,094,948.64

    • Spending: $2,434,617.85

    • Cash on hand: $1,925,866.25

  • Recent polling:

Nevada

  • Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) (Incumbent)

    • Campaign contributions: $5,007,111.41

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $5,007,111.41

    • Spending: $2,445,804.19

    • Cash on hand: $13,210,911.92

  • Sam Brown (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $2,400,244.56

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $2,400,244.56

    • Spending: $1,828,488.66

    • Cash on hand: $2,300,886.00

  • Recent polling:

Ohio (through April 4)

  • Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) (Incumbent)

    • Campaign contributions: $12,114,211.93

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $12,114,211.93

    • Spending: $10,744,333.69

    • Cash on hand: $15,984,376.12

  • Bernie Moreno (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $2,161,610.09

    • Personal loans: $1,500,000.00

    • Total receipts: $3,815,769.40

    • Spending: $3,892,008.37

    • Cash on hand: $2,108,074.85

  • Recent polling:

Pennsylvania

  • Sen. Bob Casey (D) (Incumbent)

    • Campaign contributions: $5,678,508.20

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $5,678,508.20

    • Spending: $3,229,852.43

    • Cash on hand: $11,886,479.54

  • David McCormick (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $4,624,085.94

    • Personal loans: $970,900.00

    • Total receipts: $5,594,985.94

    • Spending: $2,434,617.85

    • Cash on hand: $2,683,818.48

  • Recent polling:

Texas

Wisconsin

  • Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) (Incumbent)

    • Campaign contributions: $5,409,646.30

    • Personal loans: $0

    • Total receipts: $5,409,646.30

    • Spending: $3,194,075.80

    • Cash on hand: $10,251,350.43

  • Eric Hovde (R)

    • Campaign contributions: $1,069,811.36

    • Personal loans: $8,000,000.00

    • Total receipts: $9,069,811.36

    • Spending: $3,720,299.58

    • Cash on hand: $5,349,511.78

  • Recent polling: