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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats' campaign arm, defending a narrow majority heading into November's elections, spent more than $14 million last month, committee aides said Tuesday.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $7.7 million in August and spent almost twice that amount. Despite the lopsided spending, the group still has more than $25.3 million to unleash on ads against Republican candidates who are trying to pick up six seats needed to tip the chamber into GOP control.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $6.1 million in August and spent almost $13 million, aides said last week. The panel still has close to $20 million ready to spend, mostly on negative ads against a handful of endangered Democratic incumbents.
Party committees have now spent more than $153 million on top of what the candidates and their allies have invested.
Campaign committees typically unload their cash stockpiles in August and September to pay for television ads, and heavy spending by both parties was widely expected.
The Democrats' campaign arm has now outraised Republican efforts in 18 of the previous 20 months.
Republicans are increasingly optimistic that they can tilt enough seats to capture the Senate majority for the first time since the 2006 elections, when unpopular President George W. Bush was a drag on the party during his sixth year in office.
Now at the same point in his presidency, a similarly unpopular Barack Obama is a burden for Democrats in tough races.
The party in control of the White House typically loses seats at this point in a presidency, and Democrats have aggressively been raising money to stem their losses.
The Republicans' Senate operation has raised more than $81 million. The Democrats' counterpart has raised $111 million.
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