Senate Dems outraise GOP in June

The campaign arm for Senate Democrats outraised their Republican counterparts in June and have opened up a healthy fundraising lead for the year, according to figures first obtained by The Hill.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised $5.6 million last month, compared to nearly $4.1 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

{mosads}For the second quarter, the DSCC and NRSC raised about $13 million a piece, but Democrats have an advantage of about $3 million year-to-date, having raised about $27 million in 2015, compared to about $24 million for Republicans.

The DSCC finished the quarter with nearly $8.9 million in cash-on-hand, compared to $6.5 million for Republicans.

However, Senate Republicans have been aggressively paying down debt. After beginning the cycle with about $10 million in liabilities, the NRSC announced Monday it will be debt free going forward.

Meanwhile the DSCC began the cycle with $15 million in debt, and has lowered it to $10.3 million.

NRSC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek sought to highlight the debt disparity between the two.

“Only would Democrats in Washington believe they are in good financial standing by being $15 Million in debt,” Bozek said in a statement. “We are proud to be debt free this early in the cycle and look forward to having the real resources to highlight how Democrats have driven our country deeper and deeper in debt.”

Republicans in 2014 picked up nine seats in the Senate to win a majority in the upper chamber, but the map is stacked against them heading into 2016.

Republicans will be defending 24 seats, several in critical swing-states, compared to only 10 for Democrats.
 
Democrats will need to pick up five seats to reclaim the Senate.

Republicans have gotten an early assist from outside groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has already spent $2 million this cycle on ads supporting Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), as well as Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), who is running for Senate in Nevada.

“Republicans and their special interest allies have already spent over $3 million to attack our candidates and prop up their increasingly vulnerable incumbents, and the resources we have raised will allow us to expose the anti-middle class agenda of the Republican Senate and the contrast they have with our outstanding crop of candidates,” DSCC executive director Tom Lopach said in a statement.

This story was updated at 3:30 pm.