How Democrats are absolutely crushing the fundraising game – CNN

Between July 1 and September 30, Democrat Theresa Greenfield raised almost $29 million for her race this fall against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa. That's not only more than Ernst's 2014 Democratic challenger, Bruce Braley, spent ($12 million) in the entire 2014 race, it's more than Braley and Ernst spent (just more than $24 million) in that race.

And it's not just Iowa.

"Some think Harrison's quarterly report could approach, or even eclipse, the $38.1 million raised by Beto O'Rourke in the summer of his 2018 race in Texas, believed to be the largest quarterly fundraising haul ever in a Senate race."

In almost every race cited above, the Republican incumbents have refused to publicly release their own fundraising numbers, which must be filed publicly by October 15. The expectation, among Republicans and Democrats, is that very few (if any) of the GOP incumbents will come anywhere close to matching their Democratic rivals in third-quarter fundraising?

What does it all mean?

Well, in the most practical sense, the fundraising disparity for Democrats means that they will be able to run lots more TV ads than their GOP opponents in the closing weeks of these races.

"As of Tuesday night, Harrison has spent or reserved time through Election Day on TV and digital ads of upwards of $60.3 million an amount that's sure to grow in the final weeks of the race. ... Graham, meanwhile, has spent or reserved just $20.6 million so far."

But the overflowing amounts of money available for Democratic Senate candidates also speak to something even more important when it comes to analyzing the coming election: The party's base is beyond fired up about the prospects not just of beating President Donald Trump, but also of retaking the Senate majority.

Remember that donations -- particularly of the small-dollar variety -- are direct indications of support and passion. If you are willing to donate money you earned to a candidate for office, it speaks to a level of involvement and commitment and caring that is the lifeblood of winning campaigns. No candidate ever wins a contested office -- or any office -- without a party base behind him or her that is activated to make it happen.

Yes, Democratic candidates also benefit from the fact that ActBlue, a massively effective small-dollar online donor platform, exists. While Republicans have worked to match the success of ActBlue in recent years -- their online fundraising platform is known as WinRed -- the supremacy of ActBlue remains. And even Republican leaders know it.

But the platform can do only so much without the energy and willingness to donate to it.

And the Democratic base is, judging from donations to Senate candidates around the country, absolutely off-the-charts engaged and excited about this election. Which could spell the end of the Republican majority on November 3.

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How Democrats are absolutely crushing the fundraising game - CNN