Independent political and advocacy organizations focused on the U.S. Senate and aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a combined total of $13.9 million raised in the first quarter of 2018, with $34.4 million cash on hand.
From POLITICO Playbook:
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — A group of Senate Republican-focused outside groups raised nearly $13.9 million during the first quarter of 2018. The SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND raised $9.6 million and ONE NATION brought in nearly $3.8 million. AMERICAN CROSSROADS brought in $350,500 and CROSSROADS GPS raised $50,000. That’s up from $7.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $7.1 million in the third quarter of 2017. Current cash-on-hand is $34.4 million.
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, who is closely tied to SLF, has done a “huge amount” of travel, meetings and phone calls, according to Law.
MORE FROM LAW …
— ON 2018: “I think what has continued to develop among our donor base is a recognition that this is going to be an historically difficult election and there is a sharpening focus on the importance on holding the Senate majority as a firewall.”
— TWO ISSUES MOTIVATING DONORS — NO. 1: “[There] is growing alarm among our donors about the widening fundraising disparity between some of these targeted Democratic Senate incumbents and their Republican challengers….” NO. 2: “[That there will be] at least one more Supreme Court vacancy in the first term of this administration … There is a real focus on the importance of the Senate with respect to both the Supreme Court and [other] federal courts.”
Read the entire version of Playbook HERE.