Exclusive: A leading outside group supporting House Republicans is reporting record fundraising for the quarter.
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), which works closely with House Speaker Mike Johnson, announced it raised $81.4 million in funding for the July-September 2024 third quarter.
With four weeks left until Election Day in November, and Republicans looking to maintain and expand their fragile House majority, CLF announced it will spend an additional $11 million in new ad bookings. Information about both developments was first shared on Fox News on Tuesday.
“We continue to raise money at levels that allow us to have an incredible impact this cycle,” CLF Chairman Dan Conston said in a statement. “We continue to strategically add more money in the race we have to win.” .
Demonstrating even greater power in September fundraising activities
Over the past three months, CLF has raised more than $77.4 million, the highest amount ever raised in the third quarter of 2020. The group said it is on roughly the same trajectory as the money it raised during the 2022 midterm elections, when Republicans flipped the House. That's on pace to exceed the amount raised at this point in 2020, the last presidential cycle.
CLF also touted that it had $152.8 million in cash on hand as of the end of September, putting it slightly ahead of its Democratic rivals in total funds raised so far this election cycle.
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House Majority PAC, the main super PAC supporting House Democrats, announced last week that the party and its affiliated nonprofits collected $69 million in revenue in September, up from $150 million in the third quarter. It was part of a million dollars. But the House Majority PAC alone brought in about $100 million in funding over the past three months, according to the report.
Then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hopes for a strong fundraising cycle for House Republicans dipped after then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, long known for his fundraising prowess, was ousted a year ago in a highly turbulent internal fight. . However, CLF's funding appears to have defied those low expectations.
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The group said Mr. Johnson has done well in fundraising and Mr. McCarthy has picked up where he left off. CLF officials also said they continued to raise “huge sums of money” in the week since the end of the third quarter.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, September 12, 2024, after voting for the last time this week. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
CLF said the new ad bookings will put the money toward the top Republican House races, bringing the group's total bookings this season to $190 million. They say they are likely to add more spending ahead of Election Day.
The group will invest some of the new spending in three Democratic-controlled districts that Republicans are trying to flip: Colorado's 8th Congressional District, New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, and Maine's 2nd Congressional District. ) is redirecting it to strengthen its existing ad buys.
In addition, the CLF has announced new reservations to “provide air cover to counter Democratic spending” in districts it defends, including New York's 19th District, Wisconsin's 03rd District, and Arizona's 06th District. The department also plans to use it.
Republicans currently hold a slim 220-212 majority in the 435-member House. Two Democratic-held seats and one Republican-held seat are vacant.
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