AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Abbott
After lofty predictions of an historic “red wave” in this November’s midterm elections fell woefully short, Democrats and the mainstream media began celebrating the results as a “blue wall” blunting GOP gains. But a critical part of the story of the 2022 election cycle wasn’t about red or blue, but another color – green.
According to new financial disclosures, the Democrat Party outspent the GOP by a staggering amount in key races. With corporate America and the country’s elites now firmly in the grip of left-wing ideology, Democrat candidates enjoy access to vast pools of fundraising wealth, and it showed in this year’s campaigns, as ads for Democrat candidates and dishonest attacks on Republicans blanketed the airwaves. Democrats also benefitted from robust grassroots fundraising efforts – creating a gap that Republicans desperately need to close in order to be competitive in future elections.
A look at a few top Senate races shows just how badly Republicans were outspent by their Democrat opponents. In Arizona, for example, incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly went head-to-head with Republican Blake Masters. Despite the race being a top pickup target for the GOP, Kelly raised $81.8 million to Masters’s $12.3 million – a more than six-to-one ratio. Kelly ultimately won by less than 200,000 votes even with this extreme disparity.
Other GOP candidates in tight races were similarly drastically outspent. In Nevada, Democrat Catherine Cortez-Masto lapped Republican Adam Laxalt nearly four to one. In Pennsylvania, an effort largely led by outside “dark money” groups backed Democrat candidate John Fetterman with $35 million in spending. Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, meanwhile, only enjoyed $15 million in support. In Georgia, Democrat Raphael Warnock raised an eye-popping $150 million to Republican Herschel Walker’s $58 million.
Even in the few places where Republicans did well, they were often outspent by their Democrat opponents. In Ohio, first-time Republican candidate JD Vance won the seat of the retiring Rob Portman by defeating Democrat Congressman Tim Ryan. Still, Ryan outraised Vance nearly four-to-one, spending $56 million to Vance’s $14 million. In Florida, where incumbent Republican Marco Rubio trounced Democrat challenger Val Demings, Demings raised $79 million to Rubio’s $50 million.
Total spending on the 2022 midterms – which includes party spending as well as outside groups like PACs and SuperPACs – exceeded $16.7 billion, setting a new record for midterm contests. Democrat candidates outspent Republicans by about $100 million, $979,863,287 to $881,034,871. That gap translated to limiting the GOP to a narrow House majority, an expanded Democrat Senate majority, and two Democrat pickups in governor’s races.
Many conservatives are now questioning how Democrats were able to so heavily outraise and outspend Republicans, especially in Senate races, after things looked so promising for the GOP earlier in the year. Moreover, after being outraised and outspent in 2020 as well, an alarming pattern is beginning to emerge for the GOP.
One explanation is the increasing stranglehold that the left has over corporate America. For example, labor unions – which today more often than not reflect the interests of elites rather than rank-and-file workers – sent $51 million to Democrats and just $7 million to Republicans. Well over 90 percent of donations from employees of Big Tech companies went to Democrats, while white-collar industries like the legal field and investment banking also favored Democrats.
Democrats also enjoy the support of several ultra-wealthy donors who fund races at every level of government. George Soros continued his trend of being the largest individual political donor again this cycle, donating some $128 million to Democrats and liberal causes. Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former head of cryptocurrency company FTX, added another $40 million for Democrat candidates.
As the Republican Party increasingly becomes a party of middle and working-class voters, small-dollar fundraising has become more important, but even here Democrats hold an edge through fundraising platforms like “ActBlue,” which has largely been more successful than the Republican platform “WinRed.”
It may well be that the current period is a transitionary one for the GOP, where the party shifts its fundraising strategy and focus in order to match its new base of support. It’s also worth remembering that fundraising isn’t everything. After all, Hillary Clinton outraised Donald Trump by a factor of more than two-to-one in 2016 and still lost. Candidate quality matters, as does how each fundraising dollar is spent.
But Republicans nonetheless need to come up with some solutions to their fundraising disadvantage – and soon. Democrats already control nearly every key American institution, from Hollywood and big business to the mainstream media. If they command a massive fundraising edge as well, Republicans’ chances of winning any election, no matter how favorable the political environment, are slim at best.
Andrew Abbott is the pen name of a writer and public affairs consultant with over a decade of experience in DC at the intersection of politics and culture.
If you have to cheat then you really have not won That you don’t mind says it all about your character
Well said. BUT (sadly again) voter fraud is still a thing. AND, since exhaustive audits of the tabulators are resisted so strenuously, I have to believe there is something to hide.
here’s an idea… cap the spending and let the rest of the funds go to help those in need!!!
That Dems are financed by FTX, CEO Sam Bankman Fried, George Soros et al, says it all. It is all crooked money for crooked politicians.
Here’s a novel idea: Perhaps AMAC should send a copy of this article to the head of the RNC as she apparently has no idea what the role of the RNC is in congressional elections, as well as Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy too.
One of the primary responsibilities of the RNC is to ensure that Republican candidates on the ballot are competitive financially and logistically. Meaning their campaigns have the financial resources and logistical support to not only get out the vote, but have RNC support to raise additional campaign funds to counter the active and ongoing support the DNC provides ALL its candidates. That means access to major donor lists nation-wide, in-state Republican donor lists and, if needed, some RNC support to reach out. All things the DNC does for its candidates on a regular basis for congressional elections.
As for Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, between the two of them, they had access to over $500 million dollars with which to support Republican congressional candidates. Given the nature of how crucial the 2022 midterms were, both men should have spent heavily to support all the Republican candidates up for congressional seats.
While McCarthy did support a number of Republican House candidates with financial support to a degree, the same can’t be said for Mitch McConnell. The results are pretty much reflected in the results. With over $225 million at his personal disposal to assist Senate Republican candidates, McConnell was a real penny-pincher. He gave money to Senate candidates that would back him for a continued leadership role, but nothing to any candidate running on the MAGA agenda. Thus ensuring a lopsided contest. In some instances, McConnell even provided campaign funding to the Democrat on the ballot rather than give any money to a Trump supported candidate. So when campaign donations are being doled out based on petty, personal biases and agendas, that kind of does help the opposing party in the end.
In general, the Republican Party is able to raise campaign funds fairly well. They will never likely be on par, in pure dollar terms, with the Democrats, because of the simple fact that at this point, most of Hollywood, most of Wall Street senior management, almost all of Silicon Valley venture capitalist firms and at least half of the Fortune 500 companies are run by staunch Democrats. That’s where the big donor dollars come from on the Democrat side. But the Republicans don’t need to match the Democrats dollar for dollar. They just have to relatvely close on a race by race basis to remain competitive. Where the Republican leadership really failed in the midterms was they didn’t effectively use all the resources they had in the most efficient and coordinated manner possible. The Democrat Party leadership functions like a well-oiled machine in terms of financing and logistics. They may stand for all the wrong things for America, but they are highly coordinated and competent machine in terms of raising money and executing a well organized campaign. In contrast, the Republican Party leadership is a combination of dysfunctional, incompetence and in the case of McConnell quite petty. Which just helps the Democrat Party win. Fix the Republican leadership and the party as a whole would be quite competitive, if we didn’t have voting machines and tabulators “breaking down” or “malfunctioning” in the usual key states.
Sorry for the extra long post, but the Republican Party’s problem isn’t primarily financial.
None of this article surprises me. What concerns me is that a large portion of American citizens are so stupid that they can’t think for themselves. Most buy into the hype like the slick TV commercials ran during the elections and down right BS of the dem/socialist/communist party.
A prime example that’s come out lately is what’s been revealed about Twitter and the Hunter Biden laptop. Retired FBI Agents working at Twitter and in executive positions determined or were told that the contents of the laptop was all Russian disinformation. The FBI and the government were saying the same thing. Then some independent journalist looked into it they came up with a totally different answer. It was all true! Too little too late, millions of Americans bought into all the dem’s hype, all because they could not put two and two together or think for themselves.
I fear for my grandchildren and the country they will eventually inherit. It’s not the America I grew up in, or that of my children.
I pray elections will not be won by buying votes. We need fair elections on merit. We have enough socialist democrats controlling our country and just take a look what money got us. Corruption and
disaster
Start with either deporting Soros and not letting him back in this country or put the POS in GITMO. He is the most evil person I have ever heard of including Hitler. Satan worshiping traitor.
Two problems:
1.The democrats have worked hard to dumb-down the electorate with lowering the voting age and simplifying the citizenship exam and allowing those who can’t even find an ID to vote.
2.The elections in this democratic republic designed with equal voting by citizens have been turned into auctions with the prize going to the highest bidder.
Free spending is not the same as free speech. You are allowed all the speech you can muster, but dollars are not words. We should not limit the words, but we must limit the dollars. We have substituted an oligarchy for a democracy.
Our Founders knew that an EDUCATED populance was necessary for a free nation and a legitimate government. That’s why the Northwest Ordinances provided for money and land for schools and why nearly all citizens were able to read and write. Today’s DIMMs want the people stupid so that their con schemes will win them votes!
This article insinuates that money buys elections. I do not agree with this , as in the past some billionaires have run for office & they did not win that race. I am a voter & money does not buy my vote. If ads made me buy stuff, I would have a house full of MyPillow stuff.
We need to go back to only landowners qualify to vote & must do it in person.
Please. End mass mail-in ballots, dirty voter roles, ballot harvesting and voting on computerized hackable voting machines and then let’s see the results.
Please. End mass mail-in ballots, dirty voter roles, ballot harvesting, voting on hackable voting machines and taking days to count the votes then let’s see the results.
In my area, the demoncraps were lying their a**es off on key issues. The biggest problem was that the Republican candidates never came back to counter the lies. Which tells me that they were either too complacent, and overconfident, and this cost them dearly. I do not understand this.
The best election money ???? can buy to the detriment of the American ???????? people
Money buys influence through manipulation of narratives, (Socialist Media and streaming networks can and have been bought) and have a significant impact on weak minds that have been taught what to think rather than how to think. Attack ads with blatantly false accusations against Republicans in my state were everywhere just close enough to the election that there wasn’t time for rebuttal. Democrats actually poured some of their dirty money into endorsements of weak Republican candidates during the primaries, hoping the viable candidates wouldn’t make the ticket. When that didn’t work, election day turned into election week while enough votes were dredged up to tip the scales blue. Under Dem Gov Sisolak and Dem controlled legislature, mail in ballots once again tainted the election in a state that “accidentally” registers foreign nationals when they apply for a driver’s license. The only one they couldn’t turn was a clear victory for Republican Gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo, who I congratulate in his win against all odds! He may be the only man who can save Nevada from becoming California!
If we don’t cure election fraud it won’t matter how much Republicans raise.
Billions of dollars raised /spent just to drag a political opponent through the mud. I’d much rather hear what a candidate will attempt to accompish than to hear how his opponent acted 30 years ago. I will forever vote for the candidate who proves to be a good steward of my tax dollars.
What percentage of the billions we gave to Ukraine ended back up in the coffers of the Democratic party? Until the money laundering is stopped the Republican party will never compete.
The democrats made it about money – but that is not why we lost. McConnell gave $9Milllions to Murkowski, whom no one wanted except McConnell, so he took it from Blake Maters’ money. McCarthy gave money from the WinRed pocket to another he wanted (or others) McDaniel, like Mitch and Kevin took what she wanted. They didn’t really think too much about the candidates, Walker, Master, Laxal and OZ. They would have been elected regardless of the money if the RNC “leaders” would have done their jobs.
You can point your fingers at whatever you like, until the voter fraud is stopped, the marxists will own this country. What has anyone done about it? Nothing. This tells me that the majority of republicans are as corrupt as the marxists.
Just keep pounding the walls. These far left night crawlers have to show themselves at every election. They have to eat just like the rest of us and sooner or later the won’t have the resources to throw money at a lost cause. They can’t keep up with the growing number of truth seekers that are going to keep them spending more and more and allowing them to take less and less. The truth will out and this time the swamp, will be drained!
To get to todays topics, in the next 12 hours congress will try to push through the obscene $1.7 trillion with a T spending bill. I have emailed my 2 Senators ( does it really make any difference ? I hope so). Have you ? I would like AMAC ( which I fully respect) become more nimble on the
immediate crises by recommending that we write our congressmen before its too late. I would rather discuss this now than complain for 3 days after the passage of this stupidity which takes the
new House republican congress out of the process.
The republican solution? Cheat, like the democrats do. Mark Kelly didn’t win Arizona. The democrats cheated there, again.
Could it be donors are tired of Republican mixed messages, non inspiring candidates and past donations resulting in no results at the voting booth?
The problem is the republican party is internally divided..the Mcconnell faction vs maga faction. As a conservative, I hold my noise in checking the red box…dems are united in their marxism…
Campaign money buys ad time. The solution to that would be to do like some other countries do and give equal air time to all the candidates, much like they do with PSA’a. Campaigns then would not have to spend money on airtime and could concentrate on meeting people on the ground, canvassing, etc. Of course this will never happen. But until the voting process is cleaned up I’m not sure how much good that would do anyway. Ronna McDaniel needs to be replaced, what company keeps a CEO who loses business year after year, or sports team keeps a coach who can’t bring home a winning season? Politics in America has become a circus paid for by big donors and full of liars and con artists who will say anything to get into office and then stay there until they die! Of course they almost never keep their campaign promises. I’ve tried to write my Senators about issues, but sadly we have 2 Democrats here, one is pretty well useless and never bothers to even respond, the other is a hardcore Marxist who only responds with form letters that say nothing. We had the chance to vote him out this year, but candidate quality matters and the GOP candidate was not quality. So now we are stuck with a Marxist and a clown who will just rubber stamp whatever this administration wants.
The difference between the Trump/Clinton election, regardless of money raised, was that was before the mail in ballot scam. We will never have “Free and Fair” elections until that Democrat Scam is outlawed and we go back to in person voting with a national voter ID.
Mark kelly won in Arizona because of the sympathy vote. His wife was shot, he came back to Arizona to care for her. He’s not alone. Fetterman has a stroke…he wins. Again the sympathy vote. This is not the way to select folks for congress. Why don’t we do something simple like allowing 30 days to campaign. That way we are not overcome with ads and flyers. Tired of money spent to say nasty things about others.
I am curious as to how many voters failed to go to the poles because they were convinced by the Red Wave hype that their vote was not really needed.
I’m not sure why the amount of money a candidate raises should even correlate to a win or loss? What has happened to principal, party philosophy, and just plain doing what’s right for the people. If a candidate can out raise an opponent buy huge margins, he/she has simply been bought. Since we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people, maybe corporations should be severely curtailed or even eliminated from the political process altogether? Just because a candidate has deep pockets only means he owes way too many favors. Corporations are the source of deep pockets, not the people. We truly need a secure and accurate voting system and probably one where Election Day is the same day for everyone. Why do we have election weeks? It’s one night out of the year.if you truly want to vote you will get your ass up and go vote.
jmho
It’s called “Corporatism”, otherwise known as “Fascism” — where the dominant party colludes with big business. Money is “contributed” to the party in return for legislation that favors big business.
1) Ban all corporate donations to political races. Money can only come from individuals
2) Keep political donations local. Money spent on political campaigns is limited to what can be raised in state. No national party donations to individual races. Obviously, races for president and Vice President are exceptions. Candidates must draw their financial support from their constituents.
3) No dark money, no foundation money, no hidden income streams. All donated dollars have individual names attached to them so that the voting public knows exactly who owns their politicians and who supported them
These three things would go a long way towards cleaning up our elections
1) we are like Russia & Red China- we have One party. The DemoPublican Party. The U.S. House, Senate , Executive and Judicial Branches ARE the problem.
They break the Law continually by Violation of their Oath of Office.
How ? Because Public education has created Citizens that do Not know their rights and trust government. The corporations and major Media Lobby/ Bribe these traitorous Politicians to further their own agenda.
We “ think” we vote. A wise communist once said- it is good to let the people vote. It matters not. What Matters is that ‘we’ count the votes. Start considering a boycott of goods or services from major corporations !! Hit them in the pocketbook.
Withdraw kids from public schools. Then do either church schools, military schools, private, or Homeschool. Run for town Council, County Commissioner, Sheriff !!
State legislature. Do something.
One reason Blake Masters lost to Mark Kelly, other than many Republicans falling victim to the election day shenanigans of SOS/Gov candidate Hobbs, was the fact that Mitch McConnell pulled the rug out from under him, with McConnell quoted as essentially saying that he’d rather be the minority leader than risk losing his leadership seat if there were a red wave of Trump endorsed candidates.
The Green fantasy world will be the destruction of us, long before we run out of energy from the ground. Solar can’t provide it. Wind cannot provide it. Nuclear can- but the Greenies are afraid of it. Even Hydro electric is limited. Oil and gas and coal can do it for another 300 years. The planet will do fine.It has for eons.
Think Bernie has a wind farm at one of his three mansions? There’s a reason these green energy projects are never built in rich, white Democrat neighborhoods.
Do republicans need to do a better job? Absolutely! But, to say there was not a red wave when there was more election fraud and manipulation is ridiculous. Until we have fair and just elections that are transparent and visible, we can’t tell who actually won. For all the election deniers, get your head out of the sand and look at the reality of who is in charge here.
We might be smart to start limiting the amount of money each candidate can use to run. It is way out of control and entirely unnecessary. Also, limiting the mail in ballots and having them marked in a special way and narrow the early voting and NO drop boxes unless at an official location. All four of these changes could go a long way to leveling the playing field.
We NEED a Red Wave as in Blood Red to stop our Country from being Communised!