Democrats put up $25 million to reach voters in 10 states in fierce fight for Senate majority

ATLANTA– To defend their narrow Senate majority in a series of challenging elections in more Republican-leaning areas, Democrats are investing $25 million in voter engagement efforts in 10 states.

The new spending from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shared for the first time with The Associated Press, comes less than two months before the Elections November 5 and as Democrats benefit from an increase in fundraising since President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s standard-bearer.

“A formidable ground fight makes the difference in neck-and-neck races,” said DSCC Chairman Senator Gary Peters of Michigan in a statement. “We are reaching every voter we need to to win.”

The latest investment will be split between Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. The money will go toward efforts to unseat five Democratic incumbents and open seats in Michigan, Maryland and Arizona that are currently part of the Democratic majority, as well as efforts to unseat Republican incumbents in Florida and Texas.

Plans for the money will vary by state, but include hiring more paid field workers and canvassers; digital organizing programs targeting specific groups of voters online; text-messaging programs; and in-person organizing events targeting younger generations and nonwhite voters.

Democrats currently hold a 51-49 Senate advantage, a split that includes independent senators who caucus with Democrats. But of the 33 regular Senate elections in November, Democrats must defend 23 seats, counting the independents who caucus with them, to gain their majority. They have devoted little national resources to West Virginia, a Republican-leaning state where Sen. Joe Manchina Democrat who turned independent retires.

The playing field gives Democrats little room for error. If they lose West Virginia and hold on to all the other seats, they still have to beat Florida’s senator. Rick Scott or senator from Texas. Ted Cruz to win a majority or hope that Harris wins the presidential election – an outcome that would benefit her running mate, Tim Walzto cast the deciding vote for Democrats for vice president, as Harris did in a 50-50 Senate during the first two years of Biden’s administration.

The DSCC declined to disclose a state-by-state breakdown of the $25 million. But it’s no secret that the Democrats’ defense of the majority begins with tough re-election battle for Sens. Jon Tester from Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Both are relatively popular, perennial incumbents, but they are running in states where Donald Trumpthe former president and current Republican nominee, has won twice by comfortable margins. That means Tester and Brown will need a significant number of voters to split their tickets between Trump and their Senate pick.

Senate Democrats have already funded field offices in Montana and Ohio, since those are not states where Harris’ campaign is leading the Democrats’ coordinated campaign. And even with the money coming from the national treasury, the additional spending on the ground will bolster the two Democratic senators’ strategies to distance yourself from Harris and the national party.

Five of the 10 states getting money, meanwhile, overlap with the presidential battleground map: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Biden won all four years ago, while Trump won all but Nevada in 2016. Both presidential campaigns see the states as tossups this fall.

The voter recruitment spending comes alongside an ongoing $79 million advertising campaign by the Democratic Senate campaign arm and builds on investments in staff and infrastructure already made by the national party arm.

The spending comes after Harris, who has raised more than $500 million since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in July, announced plans to distribute $25 million to party committees focused on lower-tier races. The Senate and House campaigns each received $10 million of the money, a recognition that Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill would make a Harris presidency more successful and that Harris and lower-tier Democrats can help each other at the ballot box.

Democratic aides said the spending on the ground was always in the Senate committee’s plans, but Harris’ haul certainly expands the options for all partisan campaign groups. Democrats believe they have a superior campaign infrastructure to Trump and the rest of the GOP in a campaign year when the White House and control of Capitol Hill could be decided by marginal turnout changes among the parties’ core supporters and a narrow band of unpersuasive voters.

Still, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has raised and spent more money this cycle than Senate Democrats, even though Democrats had more cash on hand at the end of July, the last reporting period disclosed to the Federal Election Committee.

Through July 31, the NRSC had raised $181.3 million and spent $138.5 million. Republicans reported a balance of $51 million. Democrats had raised $154 million and spent $103.3 million. They reported a balance of $59.3 million.