Democratic donors fuel record-breaking fundraising in Senate races
LA TimesFrom left, Democratic Senate candidates Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, Amy McGrath of Kentucky, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Theresa Greenfield of Iowa. “We’re reaching a point where there is nothing left to buy in some of these states,” said Mike Madrid, a leader of the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans working to defeat Trump and several of his GOP allies in the Senate. “The pandemic has put the failures of the Republican Senate in full view of the American people,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a veteran Democratic consultant and longtime advisor to former Sen. Barbara Boxer. Donors have “realized, yes, we need to elect Joe Biden, but if we still have a Republican Senate, he’s not going to be able to make progress.” The rush by Senate Republicans to confirm Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court before the election has further galvanized millions of donors at a critical time, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist critical of the president and who has a long history of working for California Republicans. Steve Bullock, the Democrat running for Senate whose $25.3 million haul last quarter more than doubled what the incumbent raised, is upfront about one thing as the cash rolls in: “It’s fair to say this campaign won’t end with any debt.”