‘We need more cash’: Democrats privately flashing alarms over GOP spending deluge in midterms

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Top Democrats across the country are privately warning that they do not have enough cash in the November midterms to capitalize on what could be their party’s best political environment in over a decade and are at serious risk of leaving winnable seats on the table.

These conversations, described by two dozen Democratic sources, have become increasingly fraught in recent weeks as President Donald Trump’s political operation and other GOP super PACs have unleashed a tidal wave of spending into House and Senate battlegrounds that Democrats have been unable to match.

Democrats still feel confident they have enough money to flip the House and have a real chance at the Senate majority. But tensions are rising inside the party about its more limited pot of funds, as members and aides fear they could end up with a narrow majority that makes governing all but impossible.

Across all House and Senate races nationwide, Republicans are set to significantly outspend Democrats overall on advertising over the closing weeks of the midterms, according to data from AdImpact. Republicans have $682 million worth of ads reserved from Monday through Election Day while Democrats have $491 million.

“We need more cash,” said Julie Merz, who runs the House Democrats’ campaign committee, told CNN in a statement, adding that Democrats need to fight for “the largest majority possible.”

Democratic leaders, from members of Congress to governors, have flocked to New York and other donor havens to make last-minute pitches for money, while ramping up pressure on their most valuable donors.

Some of that pressure may be working: Democrats increasingly believe that billionaire Michael Bloomberg will spend big on their behalf in the final weeks of the campaign, according to two people familiar with those discussions.

Senate Democrats believe they’ll be outspent in every one of the competitive races this fall, worried that the late influx of GOP spending could put seats like Iowa or Alaska just out of reach, or give the GOP a real chance at flipping New Hampshire. The Republican money advantage is particularly striking in the Texas Senate race, where the GOP is on track to outspend Democrats more than 8-to-1 through Election Day, according to AdImpact.

In the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team are leaning hard on their members to invest more funds, even discussing whether to withhold coveted committee seats next year from lawmakers who do not pay up, according to multiple people involved in the discussions.

The stakes are high for Jeffries. House Speaker Mike Johnson currently oversees a historically narrow majority, a mathematical reality that has complicated every major GOP priority. It only takes a handful of members to effectively shut down the floor and derail Johnson’s agenda – which has happened over and over again.

“Unless more resources come in in support for House Democrats, we will ultimately leave seats on the table,” Mike Smith, who leads the House Democrats’ largest super PAC, told CNN.

Many Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the tightest races are pleading with Jeffries and party leaders to spend more in the final weeks. That includes some House incumbents who are watching Republicans dump money into races that Democrats believe they’d otherwise win easily, as well as top-tier Senate candidates, like Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, who’s suddenly being outspent, according to multiple sources.

Republicans in New Hampshire have booked $24 million in ad time from Monday through Election Day, compared with $15 million from Democrats.

That money “goes a really long way in a small state like New Hampshire,” an aide to Pappas said. Pappas faces former GOP Sen. John E. Sununu – perhaps their party’s top recruit.

Jonathan Drake/Reuters

Even former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper – one of Democrats’ best fundraisers and star recruits of the cycle – is warning that Democrats can’t afford to ignore his race.

“Someone asked me what my biggest concern was, and I said that people take this race for granted,” Cooper recently told CNN. “They already have allotted almost $100 million against us. They’ve been pounding us with false negative ads since July, and the race is tightening just as we knew it would.”

There is now fierce debate among Democrats about how – and where – to spend their cash.

At one point this summer, House Democrats even considered abandoning their toughest Florida incumbents, whose seats were redrawn by GOP leaders, given the state’s costly media markets. They later decided to stay put after internal polling came back far better than expected, according to two sources.

House party leaders and members have been privately squabbling about where money can go the furthest in the final stretch.

Some Democrats believe they should take advantage of a favorable political environment to expand the map beyond seats where the party traditionally competes – with some candidates and lawmakers lobbying the party to take gambles in cheaper, rural seats in south Texas, western Montana and northern Maine.

One Democrat in a ruby-red district in upstate New York, the seat now held Rep. Elise Stefanik, is making the case for party funds in a seat that Trump won by close to 20 points. Blake Gendebien, a dairy farmer, believes that rising concerns over diesel prices and Canada tariffs have made the seat unwinnable for Republicans. His biggest pitch to voters, he told CNN, is: “Life’s too expensive.”

Labor union leader and former smokejumper Sam Forstag and his allies are making a hard push for Democrats to spend in another unlikely place: Montana. Emily Marburger, the Montana Democratic Party executive director, told CNN that she is seeing growing anger over tariffs, fuel costs and the beef market that puts the seat firmly in play.

She said Forstag has a real chance but added: “We need support coming this way.”

But there are also Democratic incumbents in more traditional battleground seats, like Vicente Gonzalez in south Texas and Don Davis in North Carolina who are arguing they still need more back-up before Democrats can think about going deeper into places like Montana or Alaska.

“I’m like, the most competitive seat in the House. They should be like doubling down on me,” Gonzalez told CNN, who added he’s being “really thrifty” with the cash he does have left.

As of now, Gonzalez said he is largely matching the GOP dollars against him but he said he’s not easing up: “We’re still within the margin of error in our polling.”

Some in the party are less worried about the financial disparity, citing a nightmare environment for the GOP given Trump’s unpopularity and widespread concerns about affordability. The biggest question now, they say, is whether the sudden GOP cash infusion can stabilize red-tinted seats where Trump won by 10 or more points, which will determine the true size of the battlefield in October.

“We will have the money necessary to defend all of our battleground incumbents and at the same period of time, make sure we flip enough seats to take back the House of Representatives and more,” Jeffries told CNN last week. “Republicans are desperate right now. They have nothing left other than trying to unload tens of millions of dollars on the House, Senate and governor’s races.”

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

Democratic operatives are also quick to note that the recent influx of GOP ad dollars is not as efficient because advertising is more expensive closer to Election Day. Plus, the influx is coming from super PACs that already have to pay higher rates for advertising than campaigns do.

Still, they want donors to tune in.

“All of these races are within reach, and we have to take the spending seriously,” said a Democratic operative working on a set of House races in red-leaning territory. “I do hope our donors see this and step up.”

But while many in the party, like Texas Senate nominee James Talarico or Iowa gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand, are raising staggering amounts on their own, most Democrats will readily acknowledge they are “getting creamed” by super PAC money, in the words of one senior Democratic aide.

“There will be seats that Democrats could have won but they won’t because there was not enough money to rebut Republican attacks and get out a message,” Phil Gardner, a senior adviser to the centrist Blue Dog Action group, said in an interview.

One Democratic operative who works on statewide races added to CNN: “I still think it will be a great night for us. But I think we’ll all be thinking, ‘what if?’”

Inside a House Democratic political strategy meeting last week, party leaders made a concerted push to members to pledge more money to the party campaign arm. Jeffries and his team announced they’d spend another $2 million, according to people in the room. Two members who are seeking gavels next year announced big checks – $175,000 and $250,000. Others in the room committed between $10,000 and $50,000, about $3 million in all.

Just a few hundred feet away, Vice President JD Vance rallied a group of House Republicans – a closed-door meeting that ultimately brought in roughly $20 million, according to a person briefed on the fundraising totals.

Rep. Susie Lee, a battleground Democrat from Nevada, is among a group of members pushing hard for the party to create an actual requirement to pay party dues to fund their campaign operation – or lose privileges like sitting on top committees or running for leadership.

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images/File

“If you want to see a gavel in your hand, you should be feeling some pain and putting some money in and helping us get the majority,” Lee said, noting that endangered incumbents like her are often raising $1 million or more per quarter.

The GOP’s spending advantage is stark in high-profile House contests such as Rep. Mike Lawler’s upstate New York seat, one of the few GOP-held seats that Kamala Harris won in 2024. From Labor Day to Election Day, Republicans have reserved $14.3 million in ad buys compared to Democrats’ $1.7 million, according to AdImpact data.

Both House and Senate Democrats are just two or three weeks away from some of the toughest decisions in the cycle. Right now, Senate Democrats’ main super PAC is set to spend in big target seats like Ohio, Alaska, North Carolina and Iowa, but not Texas. That could change, though, aides said, as party leaders eye polling and GOP spending in the final weeks.

Republicans have especially ramped up in Texas. An ally of Talarico’s campaign said they did not see the disparity as “a five-alarm fire,” noting that the campaign, with its access to lower ad rates, has been able to hold its own on TV. But the ally said there “need to be more resources to close this thing out.”

Lauren French, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic super PAC in Senate races, said in a recent statement that the group is “watching Texas closely, and will continue to” do so.

“Democrats don’t need to match the spending dollar for dollar but there’s a big difference between being outspent and being completely drowned out,” added Lis Smith, a Democratic operative who’s involved in multiple congressional races this cycle.

That includes Iowa’s open Senate race, where Democrat Josh Turek is set to be outspent by $15 million through election day, and operatives like Smith are particularly worried about last-minute MAGA Inc money.

“We cannot let Republicans completely wipe us out,” she said. “Iowa is completely winnable for Democrats this cycle, it really will come down to the money.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are drawing optimism from the long-awaited arrival of major outside money.

“With all of your help and the help of all the outside groups — AFP, President Trump’s groups are going to be in helping, all kinds of other groups — I am confident that we’re going to win again in 2026,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who represents a Pennsylvania seat in the Lehigh Valley that’s one of Democrats’ biggest target, said at a recent fundraiser, according to audio obtained by CNN.

In a statement to CNN, Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for Mackenzie, said the congressman has a “track record of delivering results for the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos” and “commonsense Americans throughout the country are rallying to support Congressman Mackenzie.”

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North

全国各地的民主党高层人士私下警告说，他们在11月的中期选举中没有足够的资金来利用可能是该党十多年来最好的政治环境，并且有严重的风险会失去一些原本可以赢得的席位。

据二十多位民主党人士透露，这些对话在最近几周变得越来越紧张，因为唐纳德·特朗普总统的政治运作和其他共和党超级政治行动委员会在众议院和参议院的战场上投入了巨额资金，而民主党人却无法与之匹敌。

民主党人仍然自信他们有足够的资金来扭转众议院的局面，并且很有可能赢得参议院的多数席位。但由于资金来源有限，党内紧张局势正在加剧，党员和助手们担心他们最终可能只获得微弱多数，这将使执政几乎不可能。

根据广告影响力公司（AdImpact）的数据，在全国所有众议院和参议院的竞选中，共和党在中期选举最后几周的广告支出预计将大幅超过民主党。从周一到选举日，共和党已预定价值6.82亿美元的广告，而民主党则预定了4.91亿美元。

“我们需要更多资金，”众议院民主党竞选委员会主席朱莉·默兹在一份声明中告诉 CNN，并补充说，民主党人需要争取“尽可能大的多数席位”。

从国会议员到州长，民主党领导人纷纷涌向纽约和其他捐款大本营，进行最后的筹款游说，同时加大对最有价值的捐款人的压力。

这种压力可能正在奏效：据两位知情人士透露，民主党人越来越相信亿万富翁迈克尔·布隆伯格将在竞选的最后几周为他们投入巨资。

参议院民主党人认为，在今年秋季所有竞争激烈的选战中，他们的竞选经费都将落后于共和党。他们担心，共和党后期涌入的巨额资金可能会让爱荷华州或阿拉斯加州等席位变得岌岌可危，或者让共和党真正有机会翻盘新罕布什尔州。共和党的资金优势在德克萨斯州参议员竞选中尤为显著，据AdImpact预测，共和党在选举日之前的竞选支出将超过民主党8倍以上。

据多位参与讨论的人士透露，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯及其团队正竭力向其成员施压，要求他们投入更多资金，甚至讨论明年是否要剥夺那些不缴纳会费的议员的宝贵委员会席位。

对杰弗里斯来说，形势十分严峻。众议院议长迈克·约翰逊目前仅以微弱优势掌控着共和党的多数席位，这一现实使得共和党的每一项重要议程都变得异常艰难。只需要少数几名议员就能有效地瘫痪议会，阻挠约翰逊的议程——这种情况已经屡次发生。

“除非有更多资源支持众议院民主党人，否则我们最终将失去一些席位，”领导众议院民主党最大超级政治行动委员会的迈克·史密斯告诉 CNN。

许多民主党议员和选情胶着的候选人都在恳求杰弗里斯和党内领导人在最后几周增加竞选投入。这其中包括一些众议院现任议员，他们眼睁睁地看着共和党人向民主党人认为原本可以轻松取胜的选区投入巨资；还有一些顶尖的参议院候选人，例如新罕布什尔州的克里斯·帕帕斯，据多方消息称，他的竞选经费突然落后于共和党。

新罕布什尔州的共和党人预定了从周一到选举日价值 2400 万美元的广告时段，而民主党人则预定了 1500 万美元。

帕帕斯的一位助手表示，这笔钱“在新罕布什尔州这样的小州能发挥很大的作用”。帕帕斯的对手是前共和党参议员约翰·E·苏努努——他或许是共和党最有力的候选人。

乔纳森·德雷克/路透社

就连前北卡罗来纳州州长罗伊·库珀——民主党最优秀的筹款人和本轮选举的明星候选人之一——也警告说，民主党人不能忽视他的竞选。

“有人问我最担心的是什么，我说人们对这场选举掉以轻心，”库珀最近告诉CNN。“他们已经投入了近1亿美元来攻击我们。从7月份开始，他们就一直在用虚假负面广告轰炸我们，正如我们预料的那样，选情正在变得越来越胶着。”

现在民主党内部就如何以及在哪里花钱展开了激烈的辩论。

今年夏天，众议院民主党人一度考虑放弃佛罗里达州最难对付的几位现任议员，因为共和党领导人重新划分了选区，而佛罗里达州的媒体市场成本高昂。但据两位消息人士透露，内部民调结果远超预期后，他们最终决定维持现状。

各党派领导人和成员私下里一直在争论如何在最后阶段最大限度地利用资金。

一些民主党人认为，他们应该利用有利的政治环境，将竞选版图扩展到该党传统上竞争的选区之外——一些候选人和议员正在游说该党在德克萨斯州南部、蒙大拿州西部和缅因州北部等成本较低的农村选区进行冒险竞选。

在纽约州北部一个共和党铁票区，一位民主党人正在争取党内资金，该席位目前由众议员伊莉丝·斯特凡尼克占据，而特朗普当年在该席位上以近20个百分点的优势获胜。这位名叫布莱克·根德比恩的奶农认为，柴油价格上涨和加拿大关税的担忧使得共和党人几乎不可能赢得该席位。他告诉CNN，他向选民提出的最大诉求是：“生活成本太高了。”

工会领袖、前消防跳伞员萨姆·福斯塔格及其盟友正竭力推动民主党人在另一个意想不到的地方——蒙大拿州——投入资金。蒙大拿州民主党执行主任艾米丽·马伯格告诉CNN，她看到民众对关税、燃油价格和牛肉市场的不满情绪日益高涨，这使得该州的席位之争变得愈发激烈。

她说福斯塔格很有机会，但她补充道：“我们需要各方的支持。”

但像德克萨斯州南部的维森特·冈萨雷斯和北卡罗来纳州的唐·戴维斯这样的民主党现任议员，在一些更传统的摇摆选区也认为，在民主党人考虑深入蒙大拿州或阿拉斯加州等地之前，他们仍然需要更多的支持。

“我可是众议院里最有竞争力的席位。他们应该加倍支持我才对，”冈萨雷斯告诉CNN，他还补充说，他正在“非常节俭地”使用剩下的资金。

冈萨雷斯表示，目前他基本上能与共和党的竞选资金抗衡，但他表示不会放松：“我们的民调结果仍在误差范围内。”

党内一些人士并不太担心资金差距，他们认为鉴于特朗普的低支持率和民众对生活成本的普遍担忧，共和党目前处境艰难。他们表示，现在最大的问题是，共和党突然注入的资金能否稳住那些特朗普曾以10个百分点或以上优势获胜的、倾向共和党的选区，这将决定10月份选战的真正格局。

杰弗里斯上周告诉CNN：“我们将有足够的资金来捍卫所有关键选区的现任议员，同时确保我们能够赢得足够多的席位，夺回众议院的控制权，并取得更多胜利。共和党人现在非常绝望。他们除了试图在众议院、参议院和州长选举中投入数千万美元之外，已经别无他法了。”

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

民主党人士也很快指出，共和党近期大量涌入的广告资金效率并不高，因为临近选举日广告费用会更高。此外，这些资金主要来自超级政治行动委员会（Super PAC），而这些委员会的广告费用本来就比竞选活动本身要高。

不过，他们仍然希望捐助者关注。

一位在倾向共和党的选区参与众议院竞选的民主党人士表示：“所有这些选区我们都有机会获胜，我们必须认真对待竞选经费。我希望我们的捐助者能够意识到这一点，并加大支持力度。”

但尽管党内许多人，如德克萨斯州参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科或爱荷华州州长候选人罗布·桑德，都在自行筹集巨额资金，但大多数民主党人都会坦然承认，正如一位民主党高级助手所说，他们正被超级政治行动委员会的资金“榨干”。

“有些席位民主党本来可以赢得，但他们却没能赢得，因为没有足够的资金来反驳共和党的攻击并传递信息，”中间派蓝狗行动组织的高级顾问菲尔·加德纳在一次采访中说道。

一位参与全州竞选的民主党人士向CNN补充道：“我仍然认为今晚对我们来说会是个好夜晚。但我想我们都会想，‘如果……会怎样？’”

上周，在众议院民主党的一次政治战略会议上，党内领导人齐心协力地敦促成员们向党的竞选机构捐赠更多资金。据与会人士透露，杰弗里斯及其团队宣布将再投入200万美元。两位明年有望当选的议员宣布将分别捐赠17.5万美元和25万美元。其他与会人员也承诺捐赠1万至5万美元不等，总计约300万美元。

就在几百英尺之外，副总统 JD Vance 召集了一群众议院共和党人——据一位了解筹款总额的人士透露，这是一次闭门会议，最终筹集了约 2000 万美元。

来自内华达州的民主党众议员苏西·李是众多努力推动该党制定一项实际要求的成员之一，该要求规定候选人必须缴纳党费来资助其竞选活动，否则将失去担任高级委员会成员或竞选领导职务等特权。

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images/文件

“如果你想看到法槌落入手中，你就应该感到一些痛苦，投入一些资金，帮助我们获得多数席位，”李说，并指出像她这样处境危险的现任议员通常每个季度要筹集 100 万美元或更多。

共和党在众议院席位争夺战中的支出优势十分明显，例如众议员迈克·劳勒在纽约州北部的席位，这是卡马拉·哈里斯在2024年赢得的少数几个共和党把持的席位之一。根据AdImpact的数据，从劳动节到选举日，共和党已预定了1430万美元的广告投放，而民主党仅预定了170万美元。

众议院和参议院的民主党人距离本轮选举周期中最艰难的抉择仅剩两到三周时间。目前，参议院民主党的主要超级政治行动委员会计划在俄亥俄州、阿拉斯加州、北卡罗来纳州和爱荷华州等关键选区投入资金，但暂不涉及德克萨斯州。不过，助手们表示，随着党内领导人密切关注民调结果和共和党在最后几周的支出情况，这一计划可能会有所改变。

共和党人在德克萨斯州的攻势尤为猛烈。塔拉里科竞选团队的一位盟友表示，他们并不认为这种差距是“危急关头”，并指出，由于竞选团队能够获得较低的广告价格，他们在电视广告方面一直保持着竞争力。但这位盟友也表示，“需要更多资源才能最终拿下这场选举。”

参议院多数党政治行动委员会（参议院竞选中最大的民主党超级政治行动委员会）发言人劳伦·弗伦奇在最近的一份声明中表示，该组织“正在密切关注德克萨斯州，并将继续”这样做。

“民主党人不需要在支出上与对手一比一比，但支出落后和被完全淹没之间有很大的区别，”参与本轮多场国会竞选的民主党人士利斯·史密斯补充道。

这其中包括爱荷华州的参议院竞选，民主党候选人乔什·图雷克在选举日之前预计会比对手少花费 1500 万美元，像史密斯这样的竞选人员尤其担心 MAGA Inc. 在最后一刻的资金。

“我们不能让共和党人彻底击败我们，”她说。“民主党人这次完全有机会赢得爱荷华州，最终的胜负将取决于资金。”

与此同时，共和党人则从期待已久的大量外部资金的到来中看到了乐观情绪。

据 CNN 获得的录音显示，宾夕法尼亚州众议员瑞安·麦肯齐 (Ryan Mackenzie) 在最近的一次筹款活动上表示：“有了你们的帮助，以及所有外部团体的帮助——法新社、特朗普总统的团体将会提供帮助，还有各种各样的其他团体——我相信我们会在 2026 年再次获胜。”麦肯齐代表宾夕法尼亚州利哈伊谷的一个席位，该席位是民主党的主要目标之一。

麦肯齐的发言人阿诺·阿姆斯特朗在给 CNN 的一份声明中表示，这位国会议员“在为利哈伊谷和波科诺山脉地区带来成果方面有着良好的记录”，并且“全国各地有常识的美国人都在团结起来支持国会议员麦肯齐”。