Cornyn joint fundraising committee raises $9M ahead of midterms
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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has raised $9 million for Republican Senate candidates in this year’s midterm elections through his new joint fundraising committee, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Cornyn, a top Republican in the upper chamber, has transferred between $290,000 and $400,000 each to campaigns of incumbent GOP senators up for reelection in November.
The Texas lawmaker has been raising money through the fundraising committee for five quarters, bringing in $1.5 million in the most recent quarter.
He has transferred a total of more than $1.2 million to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the source said.
Cornyn — who served as Senate Republican whip until 2019, when he stepped down because of term limits — recently boosted his national profile by serving as the lead Republican negotiator on a gun safety package that President Biden signed into law last month.
Fifteen Senate Republicans, including Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.), voted for the package, while others in the Senate Republican Conference slammed the deal and the closed-door negotiation process.
According to the source, Cornyn has also transferred nearly $100,000 each to nonincumbent candidates in seven Senate races: Katie Britt in Alabama, Ted Budd in North Carolina, Adam Laxalt in Nevada, Joe O’Dea in Colorado, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, J.D. Vance in Ohio and Herschel Walker in Georgia.
Republicans have eyed some of those races as top opportunities to pick up seats in November and gain control of the Senate.
Democrats face fierce headwinds in this year’s midterms amid high inflation that has dogged President Biden’s approval ratings.
The GOP needs to net five seats in the House and just one in the Senate to recapture control of Congress.
Republicans are widely expected to regain control of the House, but election forecasters like FiveThirtyEight have predicted a closer contest for the Senate’s control.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) was running neck-and-neck with the NRSC’s cash on hand at the end of April, according to their federal filings.
The DSCC reported having $45.9 million in the bank at the end of the month, while the NRSC reported $45.1 million.
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