Two Parties Release Fundraising Figures

Democrats Have an Edge on Congressional Front, Republicans Lead on Governor Candidates.

The Democratic Party’s main campaign operations in Congress outraised their Republican counterparts last year, welcome news for the party’s candidates ahead of the fall midterm elections.

But Republicans raised more money than did Democrats to help gubernatorial candidates.

The political committees were required to file their latest fundraising results to the Federal Election Commission by Friday night. Some released figures earlier.

The Democrats’ main campaign arm for House races raised $75.8 million in 2013, ending the year with $29.3 million in the bank, according to figures released at the end of the week.

By contrast, the Republicans’ main campaign committee for House races raised $60.6 million last year and ended with $21 million on hand.

On the Senate side, too, Democrats outraised the GOP. The Democratic Party’s main Senate campaign committee said it raised $52.6 million during 2013. Its Republican counterpart raised $36.7 million during the year. However, both committees ended the year with about the same net cash position once debt is taken into account.

There is little chance that control of the House will slip from GOP hands, nonpartisan analysts said, but Republicans stand a significant chance of picking up control of the Senate.

Republicans have an edge in raising money for governor’s races, meanwhile, as the Republican Governors Association handily outraised its counterpart. The GOP group raised $50.3 million in 2013 and ended the year with $50 million in its account. The Democratic Governors Association said it raised $28 million last year but didn’t disclose how much is left.

During this year’s elections, 36 states will elect governors.

The Republican National Committee—the GOP’s main campaign arm—raised $80.6 million last year and had $9.2 million in cash at year’s end. The Democratic National Committee hadn’t released 2013 figures by Friday evening.

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