House Democrats reported a record-breaking fundraising haul in April, giving them an advantage over their GOP counterparts as their focus turns to the November election and control of the lower chamber is once again up for grabs.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $12.4 million last month, marking the committee’s best April fundraising numbers in its history. The haul puts the DCCC at $57.8 million raised year-to-date, which is the most money the group has ever raised at this point in a presidential year.
“With only six months to go before Election Day, House Democrats are ensuring we have the resources to take back the majority, make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker, put an end to the chaos, and get the government back to work for families,” DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) said in a statement. “As House Republicans continue to put partisan politics over people at the behest of Donald Trump, voters are increasingly fed up with extremism and dysfunction.”
The latest haul gives the DCCC $71.1 million cash on hand with just six months until Election Day, giving the party a leg up on Republican challengers.
The National Republican Congressional Committee also announced a record haul on Monday after raising $10.03 million in April — the second-highest April the group has ever reported. The haul contributes to the NRCC’s war chest of $59.8 million, roughly $15 million less than its Democratic counterpart.
However, Republicans have expressed confidence in their ability to defend their historically slim majority, pointing to previous cycles in which the House GOP had less cash on hand than Democrats but managed to make electoral gains.
At this point in the 2020 election cycle, the DCCC had roughly $30.2 million more cash on hand than the NRCC, but Republicans managed to pick up 15 seats that cycle, according to data provided to the Truth Voices. Then, in the 2022 midterm election cycle, the DCCC had roughly $18 million more cash on hand before Republicans went on to pick up nine seats and flip control of the lower chamber.
House Republicans are also pointing to Democrats’ record on the Israel war as a top matter the party will lean on this cycle, hoping to leverage that, as well as the border crisis and inflation, to motivate voter turnout.
“Democrats spent the month of April coddling terrorist sympathizers on college campuses while denying the border invasion and inflation crisis,” NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) said in a statement. “Meanwhile, House Republicans kept our nose to the grindstone — raising the cash needed to grow our majority while demanding a halt to Joe Biden and extreme House Democrats’ radical plans to drive America further into a ditch.”
The 2024 cycle has already proven to be expensive for both parties, with the DCCC spending roughly $84.1 million in 2023 and the NRCC allocating $65.2 million, according to recent data from the Federal Election Commission.
Individual campaigns have also seen expensive races in the 2024 cycle, with the top 10 most expensive House races spending more than $92.8 million so far, according to data compiled by Open Secrets. Several of those seats are attracting widespread attention because the incumbent is retiring, such as California’s 30th District, which is being vacated by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) as he runs for Senate. Roughly $7.3 million has been spent on that race so far.
The seat held by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in Colorado’s 3rd District has attracted large sums of spending as the incumbent Republican looks to run in another district, and Democrats view the seat as a key pickup opportunity. Other open seats, such as the ones being vacated by Reps. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) in North Carolina and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) in California, have also attracted more than $19 million to be spent between the two of them.
All 435 seats are up for grabs in 2024 as Republicans seek to hold their slim majority in the lower chamber. Of these, 42 are considered competitive, with most of those held by Democrats, giving the GOP a slight advantage as it prepares for the next election cycle.
However, of the 42 competitive seats, 17 are held by Republicans in districts that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, compared to just five Democrats who must defend their seats in districts carried by former President Donald Trump. That means there are just enough vulnerable GOP-held seats to keep things competitive heading into the next election cycle.
