Politics

Democrats post early fundraising edge in marquee 2026 Senate races

Published

5 months ago

February 1, 2026

One bright spot for Democrats as they face a tough path to taking back the Senate this year: Their candidates are raising a lot of money.

Democrats outraised their GOP counterparts across several of this year’s marquee Senate races heading into 2026, according to new filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won, enters the year with a massive fundraising advantage over any of his GOP rivals in battleground Georgia. Democrats in North Carolina and Ohio also started the year with a major financial edge over their GOP rivals.

But heated Democratic primaries have helped Republicans maintain a cash advantage in a few key states, including Michigan, Maine and Iowa.

Strong fundraising will be critical to Democrats’ efforts to hold all their seats — including several that are open following battleground senators’ retirements — while also flipping four Republican ones.

In a handful of primaries, including the Democratic contests in Michigan and Texas and the Republican lineup in Georgia, fourth-quarter fundraising numbers largely did not show any one candidate majorly distinguishing themselves from the rest.

Here’s a rundown of what the fundraising looked like in key Senate races.

Georgia

Ossoff holds a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents duking it out in the primary. He raised $9.9 million in the final quarter of 2025 and ended the year with $25.5 million in his war chest — numbers that are substantially higher than all of his GOP rivals combined.

Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter brought in the most in the GOP primary, raising $1.7 million and entering 2026 with $4.1 million cash on hand. Ex-football coach Derek Dooley reported raising $1.1 million, while Rep. Mike Collins raised just shy of $825,000. Dooley ended the quarter with $2.1 million left in the bank, while Collins reported having $2.3 million.

While Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage, the gap is likely to shrink when the Republican nominee is selected in May and the party, including its donors, coalesces around one candidate.

North Carolina

Democratic former governor Roy Cooper maintains a fundraising advantage in North Carolina over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

Cooper broke fundraising records when he launched his campaign and has continued to bring in large sums, raising $7 million from October through December last year, according to his filings with the FEC — nearly double the $3.8 million Whatley raised during the same period. Cooper entered 2026 with $12.3 million in his campaign coffers, a sizable haul that will be necessary as he prepares for November.

Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump, ended the fourth quarter with $3.7 million in cash on hand. Both candidates — the likely nominees in the state’s Senate race — bring extensive donor networks from their prior roles, setting up North Carolina to be one of the most expensive contests this cycle.

Operatives in both parties say spending could reach $650 million to $800 million. Democrats are eying the North Carolina seat, left open by the retirement of GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, as one of their best pick up opportunities in November.

Michigan

In Michigan, Democrats are looking to hold retiring Sen. Gary Peters’ seat, but three Democratic front-runners are locked in a tight race, and their fundraising reflects it.

Rep. Haley Stevens holds an early fundraising advantage, raising $2.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 and entered the year with roughly $3 million in the bank. Widely seen as the establishment candidate in the contentious primary, Stevens benefits from being able to tap into her existing donor networks, but her opponents are not far behind. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow and physician Abdul El-Sayed each raised roughly $1.7 million and ended the year with around $1.9 million in the bank.

With Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — later than most states — the Democratic candidates will need to sustain strong fundraising numbers through what is shaping up to be a long and expensive intraparty fight.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the frontrunner on the GOP side, raised $1.9 million and ended the fourth quarter with $3.5 million in cash on hand.

Rogers — the candidate most national Republicans have coalesced around — will benefit from being the main GOP candidate while Democrats get through their bruising primary. He also ran for the Senate in 2024, giving him a network of donors to tap into. The GOP is eying Michigan — where Trump won by just over a point in 2024 — as a top pickup opportunity in November.

Maine

Political newcomer and oysterman Graham Platner outraised both Gov. Janet Mills, his main Democratic rival, and incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, who is one of the party’s top targets as the only GOP senator representing a state won by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

Platner raised $4.6 million in the fourth quarter compared to $2.2 million for Collins and $2.7 million for Mills, who launched her campaign in mid-October.

But Collins, who has not formally launched her campaign yet, sits on far more cash than both her Democratic rivals, with a little over $8 million in the bank compared to $3.7 million for Platner and $1.3 million for Mills.

Ohio

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown significantly outraised Sen. Jon Husted in the fourth quarter, giving Democrats a boost in their longshot bid to flip the Senate seat in the state that has turned increasingly red. Brown raised $7.3 million, while Husted — appointed last year to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance becoming vice president — raised $1.5 million.

Brown, a prolific fundraiser, began 2026 with $9.9 million in his war chest. He is expected to need deep reserves again, after cryptocurrency-linked groups spent heavily against him during his unsuccessful 2024 reelection bid. Husted started the year with just under $6 million.

New Hampshire

In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas continued to comfortably outraise his Republican competition in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Pappas brought in $2.3 million in the fourth quarter and ended 2025 with $3.2 million cash on hand.

Former Sen. John Sununu, who was defeated by Shaheen in 2008 and is running with the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, raised $1.3 million and had $1.1 million cash on hand. His Republican primary rival Scott Brown, who briefly represented neighboring Massachusetts in the Senate, raised just $374,000 and had $907,000 in the bank.

Texas

Money is flowing into the Democratic primary in Texas, where Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico both raised over $6 million during the fourth quarter.

Crockett, who launched her Senate campaign in early December, raised $2 million from donors through the end of the month and transferred another $4.5 million from her previous House campaign account. But Talarico, a state representative from Austin, outraised Crockett and ended the year with more money in the bank. He started 2026 with $7.1 million in his war chest, compared to $5.6 million for the Dallas-area representative.

Both candidates outraised the Republican field by a wide margin. On the GOP side, state Attorney General Ken Paxton raked in $1.1 million, while incumbent Sen. John Cornyn raised $1 million for his campaign and another $4.1 million through a joint fundraising committee that has been running TV ads on his behalf. Rep. Wesley Hunt, polling in third in the GOP primary, raised just over $429,000.

Cornyn — whose reelection bid has been endorsed by the NRSC — still maintains a huge cash on hand advantage. He has more than $10 million in the bank between his campaign account and joint fundraising committee, a war chest that could prove pivotal in the final stretch of the March 3 primary — or an extended runoff . He is locked in a neck and neck race with Paxton.

Paxton entered 2026 with $3.7 million in the bank. Hunt had $778,660.

Iowa

Democrats duking it out in Iowa’s Senate primary posted modest fundraising hauls in the fourth quarter. State Rep. Josh Turek raised $677,000, while state Sen. Zach Wahls brought in $741,000. Nathan Sage, the third Democrat viewed as competitive for the nomination, brought in $229,000.

Wahls also entered 2026 with the cash on hand advantage. He had $733,000 left in his war chest, while Turek had just shy of $400,000. Sage had $86,000 in the bank at the start of the year.

Whichever Democrats wins will need serious money to try flipping the seat left open by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst.

Rep. Ashley Hinson brought in $1.6 million and had nearly $5.2 million in the bank at the end of 2025, a substantial fundraising advantage over all of her potential Democratic opponents.

Politics

World Cup match collides with Florida GOP bash

Published

2 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

HOLLYWOOD, Florida — Colombia and Portugal’s World Cup match in Miami Gardens won’t be the only major draw pulling crowds to South Florida this weekend: Florida’s Republican grassroots are heading to Hollywood for their “Sunshine State Showdown.”

The GOP’s event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is one of the state party’s biggest of the year. The GOP sold more than 800 tickets, with the party’s most devoted volunteers and many donors coming in from all over the state to get revved up for the midterms, gameplan their messaging and hear directly from top candidates.

The shindig will feature speeches from Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, as well as gubernatorial candidates Rep. Byron Donalds, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins. It will also include two congressional debates.

Several “Showdown” attendees said they were thrilled about the convergence of their party’s bash with a World Cup match. South Florida has already seen a huge economic boom in recent years, and the Magic City is poised to become even more prominent given Miami is set to be home to Donald Trump’s future presidential library and will host the G20 in December. “Miami is again at the center of the universe,” observed Miami-Dade County GOP Chair Kevin Cooper.

Several prominent Republicans said they see the international event as an opportunity to showcase the state. State Rep. Dean Black of Jacksonville, who also chairs the Republican Party of Florida’s fundraising committee, said he’d enjoyed seeing fans from abroad show appreciation over social media for American culture. “They have fallen in love with the greatness of America,” Black said. “By being exposed to the Republican Party event, they will learn just how that greatness came to be.”

Collins’ team said that while the lieutenant governor wasn’t attending the game, he was “happy the state of Florida is hosting so many fans from across the world experiencing the beauty of our state.”

Former Fox 35 Orlando anchor Ryan Elijah, a GOP candidate for Congress who’s attending the showdown, said he would be checking his phone regularly for World Cup updates.

“What a night for Florida to see the biggest names in Florida politics and World Cup soccer be just miles apart!” he said in a text. “It’s a dream night for tourism numbers and local businesses!”

But the packed weekend also risks turning into a logistical headache. The Hard Rock Hotel is one of the pickup points offering shuttle services to Miami Stadium. It’s less than 9 miles away from the big game.

Angie Wong, Republican executive committeewoman in Miami-Dade, attended Wednesday’s match between Scotland and Brazil. She said her family paid $200 for parking near the stadium and that it took more than an hour just to get out of the parking lot.

“We were lucky — we actually left before the game ended,” she said.

Yet this year’s “Showdown” is a more scaled-back affair than in the recent past. It won’t, for example, feature a dinner like in previous years. But that’s probably good news for any attendees who don’t want to miss the soccer match — or who are just trying to get back home without getting stuck in traffic. And it doesn’t have any major Trump administration officials attending, in comparison to last year, when the event prominently featured White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and now-former deputy chief of staff James Blair, who is currently running Trump’s political operation for the midterms.

Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis — who remains highly popular with the state’s grassroots — won’t be speaking at the “Showdown” this weekend and his office didn’t reply to an inquiry about whether he’d attend Saturday night’s game. The governor was in the Miami area during the last couple of days, including hitting the Brazil-Scotland game on Wednesday night and holding a press conference at the former Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center on Thursday.

Evan Power, chair of the state party, had already arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel on Wednesday night and said he got to watch a Brazilian victory parade happening right outside the restaurant where he was having dinner. He added he hadn’t had any issues getting in and out of the events center and that Republicans sold out their room block, “so I think we were able to get in before the craziness.”

“In our room block, people are happy because they’re not paying the market rate that is out there,” Power said. “Seeing some of the prices — they’re crazy now.”

Politics

A drag queen, a rainbow festival and a game FIFA can’t control

Published

3 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SEATTLE — FIFA has not endorsed the Seattle host-city committee’s “Pride Match” designation, which will not be part of the official branding when Iran and Egypt meet tonight at Lumen Field.

“I think they’ve always been aware of what we’re doing,” said Louise Chernin, who as chair of the organizing committee’s Pride Match Impact Council began planning for the day nearly a year and a half ago.

Chernin began her match day at Rough & Tumble, a women’s sports bar in Ballard, a historically Scandinavian neighborhood where a crowd had gathered to cheer on Norway against France. The bar was notably free of FIFA’s commercial imprint: The World Cup posters on the walls and the merchandise for sale were all drawn by local artists without any official logos.

It all reflected the extent to which the “Pride Match” has become a gentle challenge not only to FIFA’s record of clamping down on some expressions of LGBTQ+ rights but also the corporate monoculture it creates in host cities through its restrictive sponsorship rules.

“If there’s going to be revenue spent, let us bring it to LGBTQ-owned businesses,” said Chernin, a longtime head of the Greater Seattle Business Association, an LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce.

Just down the street, fans had gathered at a “regnbue” street festival — the word is Danish and Norwegian for “rainbow” — organized by a local Ballard business association. The Norway-France match was being shown on an oversized screen, but when halftime hit attendees did not listen to any of the ads on the Fox broadcast.

Instead DJ SummerSoft took the stage as Sativa the Queen, a local drag performer, vamped through the break.

Politics

The world’s not big on the US. The World Cup might help.

Published

3 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

America’s stint hosting the World Cup is drawing mostly positive reviews to date — and it couldn’t come at a better time.

According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, views of America across the world are worsening and confidence in President Donald Trump’s leadership is dropping.

Pew surveyed 42,000 people across 36 countries between February and May, and found that America has a largely negative impression on the global theater. Only 23 percent of surveyed adults expressed confidence in Trump’s leadership — eliciting less confidence than Chinese leader Xi Jinping (34 percent) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (31 percent).

Foreign policy is the biggest pain point for Trump’s international critics, who take issue with his handling of tariffs, Gaza, Iran, Greenland and the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Pew’s findings.

Meanwhile, fewer countries — and longtime allies — believe the U.S. is a reliable partner. In Canada, where 83 percent of respondents described the U.S. as reliable in 2022, that number is now down to 35 percent.

In 2023, 60 percent of Germans said the U.S. considers international interests in its foreign policy decisions. That share has now dwindled to 23 percent — Germany’s public opinion of the U.S. is “now similar to or more negative than what was measured during George W. Bush’s presidency, when many people in Europe and elsewhere strongly opposed the war in Iraq and other major elements of U.S. foreign policy,” writes Pew.

There are only seven nations where a majority rate the U.S. well — Israel leads the pack, with 81 percent of respondents viewing America favorably. Some of the country’s lowest ratings come from predominantly Muslim publics, “such as Malaysians, Pakistanis, Turks, and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

Over the past decade, Pew’s polling has found growing concerns about the health of American democracy. A 2013 Pew survey, just as Barack Obama entered his second term, an all-time high of 75 percent of respondents in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, the Philippines, South Korea and the U.K. said the U.S. respects its citizens’ personal freedoms.

Since then, declining shares of world respondents believe the U.S. respects its citizens’ personal liberties — and this year, 56 percent of respondents said the U.S. does not.