McConnell-aligned super PAC raises $111M in third quarter

A super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) raised $111 million in the third quarter of the year, a massive sum that is helping to fund an onslaught of advertising against Democrats in the final stretch before Election Day.

The Senate Leadership Fund’s (SLF) staggering haul averages out to more than $1 million raised per day in the period spanning July 1 through the end of September and makes up more than half of the $221.4 million the super PAC says it has raised so far in the 2022 midterm cycle.

The figures were first reported by The New York Times.

The SLF said it finished out the third quarter of the year with some $85.2 million in the bank, which will allow the group to offer critical last-minute help to Republican candidates in some of the country’s most competitive Senate races.

Steven Law, the president of the SLF, said the third-quarter fundraising haul was a sign of momentum for Republicans at a critical moment in the fight for control of the Senate. The GOP needs to net just one seat next month to recapture control of the upper chamber.

“SLF is steadily closing the gap in the fight to retake the Senate majority, and our donors are fired up about slamming the brakes on Joe Biden’s disastrous left-wing agenda,” Law said. “We are hammering Democrats on inflation, gas prices, taxes and crime — and this fundraising haul means no Senate candidate can hide from their irresponsible and unsafe positions.”

The SLF has already mounted an aggressive ad campaign in the most hotly contested battlegrounds. Federal filings show that the group has spent nearly $150 million on Senate races in Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

Last month, the super PAC pulled its ad reservations from Arizona, where polls show Sen. Mark Kelly (D) with a solid lead over Republican Blake Masters. Axios reported on Wednesday, however, that billionaire venture capitalists Peter Thiel had offered to make a multimillion-dollar investment in the state if the SLF put up matching funds.