This story was written by Andrew Perez and Julia Rock.
Senate Democratic candidates in competitive races this year and the party committees that backed them raised more than $1.1 billion dollars this election cycle, according to data reviewed by The Daily Poster.
Despite all that spending, Democrats have only netted one seat so far, and they would need a miracle to pick up two more seats to win control of the Senate. The race in North Carolina is still too close to call, with Cal Cunningham down 97,000 votes against incumbent Republican Sen. Thom with 94 percent of the estimated vote total in. Democrat Raphael Warnock is headed to a January runoff with incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler in Georgia, in what will likely be another ultra expensive race in a typically red state.
Many of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s candidates lost big, and trailed the national Democratic presidential ticket.
Incumbent Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama and challengers like Jaime Harrison in South Carolina, Amy McGrath in Kentucky, and MJ Hegar in Texas combined to raise $250 million this cycle — and they all appear to have lost by double digits.
Well-funded challengers like Sara Gideon in Maine and outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in Montana took in nearly $110 million and lost, too.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national party committee that elects Democratic Senate candidates, and the Senate Majority PAC, the DSCC’s allied super PAC, together raised more than $450 million this cycle.
The fundraising numbers aren’t final yet — the candidates and groups have only reported their finances through October 14, three weeks before Election Day.
Only two Democratic challengers, former Gov. John Hickenlooper in Colorado and Mark Kelly in Arizona, won their races on Tuesday. Democrats also lost one seat in Alabama, so they currently hold 48 seats.
While it’s looking fairly likely that former Vice President Joe Biden won the presidency, many of the Democratic Senate candidates lagged behind his campaign. Gideon, who raised more than $68 million, couldn’t beat vulnerable Republican Sen. Susan Collins, as Biden won the state of Maine by roughly 10 points.
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