It’s pretty easy to see where political parties think they have the best shot at winning. Follow the money.
In this case, the money has stopped flowing in several races around the country where Democrats seem to be writing off their chances in favor of trying to hold some more winnable seats. There are congressional districts from Maine to Oregon where Republicans are suddenly seeing opportunities and Democrats are realizing that several “safe” districts may not be as safe as once thought.
According to Politico, the infighting has begun as strategists and local state party leaders are battling over precious funds and crying for help as the spigot suddenly starts turning off:
GOP Rep. Mike Garcia holds one of House Republicans’ most vulnerable districts. But Democrats have barely spent a dime on TV to take him down.
The decision, according to those involved, was driven by a relative lack of resources: As Republicans’ biggest House super PAC floods the election with hundreds of millions of dollars, their Democratic counterparts have lagged far behind. Some members of the California Democratic delegation were alarmed by the decision to leave Garcia’s district untouched — and they have urged their party’s campaign arm in recent weeks not to abandon a seat that President Joe Biden won by double digits, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
Similar pleas are coming from Texas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, as frustrated Democrats bemoan that their party’s outside groups are unable — or, some say privately, unwilling — to devote precious funds toward what they see as winnable seats.
Fundraising on the issue of abortion can only go so far as Democrats are discovering just weeks from the midterm elections. They’ve been unable to match the juggernaut fundraising from the House Republican committee and it’s starting to show.
In several states, Democrats are retreating due to limited funds leaving several candidates out to dry in the closing stretch:
House Democrats’ panic has escalated this month as GOP outside groups continued to smash fundraising records. Despite high candidate fundraising, Democrats have been unable to respond with the same volume of money, and the party has struggled to free up the resources to attack potentially endangered Republican incumbents — a crucial part of their strategy, since they need to offset expected losses in more conservative Democratic-held districts.
Democrats currently have just a 5-seat majority and already seem to be abandoning some tough seats that their incumbents currently hold in Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas and Michigan.
The money usually flows to the team expected to win. This year, that’s a likely Republican majority in the House and a substantial shot at taking the Senate as well. For many Democratic Party donors, the writing is on the wall. Why waste money on races that might already be lost when it could be saved and spent on the presidential campaign in the coming years? There will be finger-pointing on Nov. 9 when the post-mortem starts taking shape. Were there races Democrats passed on a financial infusion where they should’ve spent a few bucks? Probably, but divvying up resources when they’re scarce is hard.
The end result is that as the GOP expands its target list, Dems are forced to respond when and where they can but they’re being outmaneuvered and outspent all over the map.
