In Defying the Odds, we discuss congressional elections as well as the presidential race. Campaign finance is a big part of the story.
Republican super PACs aligned with leadership in the House and Senate raised an enormous sum of $63 million in September, as the groups stepped up their fundraising and spending efforts in the final two months before Election Day to boost GOP candidates’ chances in the midterm elections.
About 70 percent of the money raised in September by the two super PACs working to elect Republicans to Congress came from the party’s biggest benefactors in the midterms, records show: Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. The latest donation brings their total contributions to the midterms to at least $112 million — cementing their status as the biggest donors this election.But whereas campaigns get discounted TV ads rates, super PACs have to pay the full amount, which reduces the amount of airtime they can buy.
The two Republican super PACs — Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), aligned with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), and Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) — have been flooding the airwaves since September with a torrent of hard-hitting attack ads to boost Republicans and improve their chances of maintaining control of Congress.
