Senate fundraising winners and losers

Second-quarter fundraising numbers released this week show the battle for control of the Senate is heating up.

Democrats have some early advantages as they seek to reclaim the Senate from Republicans, who took over in convincing fashion in 2014.

{mosads}Republicans are defending 24 seats compared to only 10 from Democrats. In addition, turnout in a presidential election year is expected to favor Democrats, raising the stakes for GOP incumbents in swing-states like Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Still, Republican incumbents are proving to be strong fundraisers early in the cycle.

Here are The Hill’s second-quarter fundraising winners and losers:

WINNERS

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)

The Ohio senator is likely to be a fixture on this list. In the second quarter, Portman raised $2.9 million, compared to only $1 million for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), his likely opponent in the race.

Portman has a whopping $10 million in cash-on-hand, compared to $1.2 million Strickland, leading Democrats to already concede that they’ll be outspent in the race. Portman has been dipping into his war chest early, releasing his fifth paid ad of the cycle this week.

He’ll need every dime. Ohio will get as much national attention as any state in the presidential election, and polls show Portman and Strickland knotted in a tie. Much will depend on the top of the ticket, and the Buckeye State has gone for the Democratic presidential candidate the last two cycles.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.)

Both parties face protracted primary battles in the race to replace Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the Senate. Murphy stood out in the second quarter as the biggest fundraiser on either side.

The centrist Democrat rode the establishment support he has picked up in the state to a $1.4 million haul in the second quarter, ending June, with $2.5 million on hand.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who has boasted about a huge network of liberal grassroots support, didn’t enter the race until after the second quarter ended.

As a House candidate, Grayson brought in less than $200,000 in the second quarter and has only about $70,000 on hand. His numbers will almost certainly improve.

On the Republican side, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) raised $1 million and has over $2 million in the bank. He has the backing of several national fiscal conservative groups.

He’ll need that money to beat back the growing field of candidates in what is lining up to be a competitive GOP primary.

This week, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera (R) entered the race that already had Todd Wilcox, a Republican combat veteran. In addition, Reps. David Jolly and Jeff Miller are also mulling bids and expected to get in the race soon.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.)

Toomey is humming along, even as he faces reelection during a presidential election year in a state that hasn’t gone for the Republican nominee since 1988.

Toomey raised $2.2 million in the second quarter, bringing his total cash-on-hand to $8.3 million.

Democrats are not thrilled that former Rep. Joe Sestak is seeking a rematch against Toomey, although though Toomey only narrowly defeated the Democrat in 2010, a wave election year for Republicans.

Sestak has not released his second quarter figures yet and his campaign did not respond to a request from The Hill. In the first quarter, Sestak raised just over $300,000, but he had $1.7 million in his campaign account, much of it left over from his previous run.

Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.)

Feignold and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) essentially battled to a fundraising tie in the second quarter, but Feingold gets the win by virtue of being the only challenger to out-raise an incumbent.

The Wisconsin Democrat resoundingly answered any questions that might linger about his ability to fundraise. He entered the race in mid-May and hauled in $2.2 million in the month-and-a-half before the quarter ended.

Johnson, meanwhile, raised $2 million over the entire three-month period. Johnson poured millions of dollars of his own money into the race when he defeated Feingold in a GOP wave election year in 2010, but has said he won’t self-fund this time around.

Johnson is among the most vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in 2016. Wisconsin hasn’t gone for a Republican presidential candidate since backing President Reagan for reelection in 1984.

Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.)

Young has an early edge in the battle for the Republican nomination in the race to replace retiring Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind).

Young raised $1 million in the first quarter, compared to $600,000 for Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), and $200,000 for former state GOP Chairman Eric Holcomb.

Young has about $2 million in cash-on-hand, Stutzman has a little more than $800,000, and Holcomb ended the quarter with about $300,000.

Former Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), the only Democrat running so far, entered the race in early June and raised $150,000 in the month before the quarter ended.

LOSERS

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.)

Edwards got thumped by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in the second in quarter, as Van Hollen cemented his standing as the establishment favorite in the race for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).

Van Hollen reeled in $1.5 million, bringing his total cash-on-hand to $3.5 million. Edwards raised only $590,000 and has not disclosed how much she has in the bank. She ended the first quarter with about $325,000 on hand.

It’s the second consecutive runaway victory for Van Hollen, who outraised Edwards by a 3-to-1 margin in the first quarter.

Edwards will get an assist from EMILY’s List, the deep-pocketed group that supports pro-abortion-rights Democratic women. On Friday, the group announced it raised $10.5 million in the second quarter, its best-ever haul for an off-cycle year.

Republicans in Colorado

Another quarter, another $2 million for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who now has $4.3 million in the bank.

Republicans insist that Bennet is vulnerable. He’s a top target for the GOP heading into 2016 and perhaps their only shot at taking out an incumbent.

But the state party in Colorado is in disarray, and a handful of top Republican recruits have passed on the race. There are currently two low-profile Republicans running for Senate, but it still feels like Bennet is running unopposed.

Whoever emerges from the GOP field will be untested and underfunded going up against Bennet.

Democrats in North Carolina

Democrats are adamant that they have a real shot at knocking off Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), but the incumbent is raking in big bucks and a challenger has yet to emerge.

Burr raised $1.7 million in the second quarter and now has $3.8 million overall.

University of North Carolina system President Tom Ross and former Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) are among the Democrats believed to be eyeing the race. Both would have some catching up to do.

Democrats in New Hampshire

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is another top target for Democrats in 2016, but without a challenger, she’s running up the score on the fundraising front.

Ayotte raised $1.5 million in the second quarter, bringing her total cash on hand to about $4 million.

Democrats are hopeful that Gov. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) enters the race, which would set up a battle between political heavyweights in the state. That appears to be a 50-50 prospect at this point.

Potential primary challengers to Sen. John McCain

After months of chatter, Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) finally got a primary challenger last week, as state Sen. Kelli Ward (R-Az.) entered the race.

But ousting McCain in a primary is looking like an increasingly more difficult prospect. In the second quarter, the Arizona senator raised $1.4 million, bringing his total cash-on-hand to $4.5 million.

Some outside groups are pushing Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Az.) to get into the race, but he doesn’t appear to be gearing up for the challenge. Salmon ended the quarter with less than $500,000 in the bank.

McCain’s Democratic challenger, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Az.), raised a respectable $430,000 in the month since entering the race, ending the quarter with $637,000 on hand, according to figures obtained by the blog Arizona’s Politics.