Senate Fundraising: Brown Leads Early Haul

The third-quarter Senate filings show a wide spread between candidates who banked their money and those who burned through it. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat in the Ohio Senate race, posted the largest receipts total in this batch at $38.57 million, and even after $22.34 million in disbursements he still carried $16.23 million into the next quarter — a cash position no other Senate filer in this group approached.

The contrast in spending discipline is instructive. Ashley Moody, the Republican in the Florida Senate race, raised $11.27 million and spent just $2.78 million, banking $8.49 million. Michael Whatley, the Republican running in the North Carolina Senate race, raised an identical $11.27 million but spent nearly three times what Moody did — $7.81 million — leaving him with $3.46 million on hand, less than half her reserve on the same top-line haul. In the Texas Senate race, Democrat Colin Allred raised $7.46 million but closed the period with just $2,660.01 in the bank, having spent almost everything he brought in. Texas also produced a second notable filing: Republican Ken Paxton raised $9.25 million against $7.49 million in disbursements, ending with $1.76 million on hand — a markedly thinner cushion than Moody's, despite a comparable fundraising tier.

Kentucky's filing raises its own questions about burn rate. Republican Andy Barr, running in the Kentucky Senate race, spent $11.37 million against receipts of $9.98 million — outspending his own quarterly haul by nearly $1.4 million and leaving only $2.31 million on hand. That kind of negative spending gap, where disbursements outpace receipts, typically signals either an expensive advertising push or a campaign drawing down a previously built reserve; the filing alone does not say which. By comparison, Republican Dan S. Sullivan, in the Alaska Senate race, kept disbursements to $3.93 million against $9.14 million raised, finishing with $7.30 million on hand — one of the stronger cash positions in this round of filings and a sharp contrast to Barr's trajectory.

House Filers: Cash Positions Diverge Sharply

House filings this period show some campaigns accumulating war chests larger than their quarterly fundraising, while others are spending down to the wire. Democrat Ro Khanna, in the California 17th District race, reported $16.93 million on hand — the highest cash position among House filers in this batch — despite raising $13.76 million in the period. With disbursements of only $7.54 million, his treasury grew larger than his quarterly haul, pointing to money carried over from prior filings rather than purely new fundraising. Democrat Ritchie Torres, in the New York 15th District race, shows a similar pattern: $6.91 million raised this period but $13.99 million in the bank, implying a substantial reserve built before this filing window.

Other filers present the opposite picture. Democrat Shawn Harris, in the Georgia 1st District race, raised $8.10 million but disbursed all but $18,230.12 of it, a near-total burn rate for the quarter. Democrat April McClain Delaney, in the Maryland 6th District race, raised $12.31 million and spent $12.01 million, leaving just $307,611.31 on hand — a far thinner margin than Khanna's or Torres's reserves despite comparable or larger fundraising. Republican Steve Scalise, in the Louisiana 1st District race, reported disbursements of $10.88 million that exceeded his $10.64 million in receipts, another instance of a campaign spending beyond what it raised this period.

Taken together, the filings underscore that gross receipts tell only part of the story. Cash on hand — and how fast a campaign is willing to spend it — will matter more as the field moves into the stretch before votes are counted.