Democratic super PAC stockpiles cash for Senate battle

Senate Majority PAC, the main Democratic outside group involved in Senate races, is already stockpiling campaign cash ahead of a brutal fight to hold onto the Senate, according to new fundraising numbers shared first with NBC News.

The super PAC raised $37 million during the first six months of the year, ending June with $24.6 million in its campaign account.

“After defying history and expanding Democrats’ Senate majority in 2022, Senate Majority PAC’s strong fundraising sets us once more on the path to success,” SMP president JB Poersch said in a statement.

The haul surpasses the group’s Republican opposite, Senate Leadership Fund, which raised $10.1 million in the first half of the year, according to Politico. SLF’s non-profit arm, One Nation, raised an additional $28.2 million.

The Democratic super PAC’s haul also surpasses the group’s fundraising at the same point of last year’s midterm election, when it raised $25.6 million. Super PAC fundraising typically accelerates rapidly as elections draw near.

SMP and SLF both play major roles in Senate races — the two groups spent more than $600 million combined in the 2022 midterm elections.

Democrats are defending a narrow Senate majority next year, and the party has three senators up for re-election in states that former President Donald Trump carried in 2020. Republicans need a net gain of just one Senate seat to take control of the Senate if the GOP wins the White House, since the vice president casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate. Republicans would need to net two seats for the majority if Democrats win the presidential race.

Political action committees must file their six-month fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission on Monday.