For a second day in a row, political groups filing independent expenditures with the FEC disclosed more than $15 million in targeted election spending. More than half of Friday’s cash went toward House elections, as high-profile congressionally-focused Republican and Democrat groups ponied up big dough.
The Roundup: A staggering $19.2 million disclosed by 38 groups influencing more than 50 federal elections.
The Big Spender: The National Republican Congressional Committee disclosed a massive $7.5 million for media-related expenditure opposing 41 different Democrat candidates for the House. Whist the NRCC frequently spends heavily in one shot (e.g. $4 million on Sep. 8th) this disclosure represents a significant shift upward for spending patterns. Disclosures in the $7.5 million range are closer to the weekly totals for a major IE group, like Crossroads, Americans for Prosperity, Priorities USA Action, SEIU, etc., rather than a daily amount. As discussed in yesterday’s post, the general uptick we’ve seen in daily disclosure totals have been caused by incremental spending increases by individual groups and more groups disclosing on a daily basis. NRCC’s huge outlay may signal the beginning of a reconfiguration of IE spending patterns of the big players.
Cashing In: As was the case yesterday, many different media entities banked commissions in excess of $1 million. National Media Research Planning & Placement was top dog on Friday, receiving a hefty $6.5 million - all from the NRCC. Check out previous posts where we profiled the NRCC’s IE earning history.
House or Senate? The House. Fueled by disclosures from Republican NRCC and Democrat House Majority PAC, House elections experienced over $10 million in spending from outside entities. Senate contests garnered only $2.6 million from IE groups on Friday.
The Hotspot: California. Elections in the Golden State attracted over $2.1 million in disclosures targeting House elections. Republican Congressman Dan Lungren (District 7) attracted over $575K in opposition spending and Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman (District 30) collected $500K of supporting cash. The remaining million negatively targeted Democrats Jose Hernandez (District 10) Jerry McNerney (District 9) Lois Capps (District 24) Scott Peters (District 52) and Amerish Bera (District 7).
The High Striker: The Republicans. Republican groups disclosed $11.8 million. Pro-Democrat entities spent a respectable $7.4 million. High Striker Ratio: for every dollar disclosed by the Dems, the Reps spent $1.6.
Take an extra long look at this extra long disclosure summary table! Have a great weekend.
