Democratic Senate candidates swamp GOP rivals in fundraising

In today’s edition, Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar sift through a new batch of Senate fundraising reports. Plus, Kristen Welker wraps up another week of fiery debates.

Democratic candidates across more than a dozen competitive Senate races raised a combined $253 million from July through September, more than four times the $56 million raised by GOP candidates in those races, according to new fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

During the third quarter, Democratic candidates in these contests spent a combined $300 million, while Republicans spent nearly $84 million. Heading into the final month of the election, Democratic candidates had $87 million on hand compared to $56 million for the Republicans.

Republicans were outraised by their Democratic or independent opponents in all but one of the 15 races the NBC News Decision Desk rates as competitive, with Minnesota as the only exception. ( Megan Brand has more today on why Republicans think former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya could have an opening there against Democratic Lt. Gov. Penny Flanagan .)

Some of the widest gaps came in states where Democrats had long established themselves as prolific fundraisers.

In the Texas Senate race, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico raised $60.2 million to state Attorney General Ken Paxton ’s $10.2 million. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff raised $33.1 million while GOP Rep. Mike Collins pulled in $2.8 million. And in Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown raised $23.1 million compared to $4.8 million for Republican Sen. John Husted .

Democratic candidates’ massive fundraising advantage in some of these states, particularly those that Republicans have won comfortably in recent elections, underscores how the battle for the Senate majority has grown more competitive in the final midterm stretch.

It’s also a major reason why Republican outside groups have rushed in to help make up the difference, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the airwaves.

Most notably, tech billionaire Elon Musk gave another quarter-billion dollars to GOP groups in recent months. More than half of that money, $158 million, went to the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate GOP leadership. SLF transferred that same amount to Texas PAC, which has boosted Paxton in Musk’s home state.

There are pros and cons of money going directly to candidates’ campaigns versus the outside groups supporting them. Donors are able to give larger amounts to outside groups, which aren’t subject to contribution limits. But candidates are able to get better rates for TV ads and inherently have greater control over how money is spent when it’s in their own accounts.

Less than three weeks before Election Day, tensions are boiling over in the heated battle for control of Washington. Just look at what we’ve seen from candidates on the campaign trail this week.

Debates have been fiery. Maine Democrat Troy Jackson told Republican Sen. Susan Collins to “shut up” after she claimed a protester at their showdown yesterday was a supporter of his. Alaska Republican Sen.