Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) highlighted his fears that Republicans lack the resources to keep up across competitive Senate races in a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition Summit in Las Vegas.
Daines is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is committed to assisting Senate Republicans.
“I am concerned,” Daines said. “We have more states in play than resources to cover them.”
Senate Republicans have been trailing by more and more in fundraising since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, which immensely boosted party fundraising. Earlier this week, the Harris campaign shared $10 million with the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.
“Kamala Harris can’t do much of anything well [but] they do know how to raise money,” Daines said. “We need your help to close the fundraising gap.”
Nevertheless, Senate Republicans are still playing from ahead. While the GOP has two incumbents in Texas and Florida who are running competitive races, they’re still likely to win. Incumbent Democrats have many more competitive races, including a wild card race in deep-blue Maryland and a highly likely loss in West Virginia.
While they have an advantage in Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona’s Senate races, those are still four seats that they’ll have to retain in swing states. Michigan, Montana, and Ohio’s races have been toss-ups.
The most likely path to a Republican majority is if the party retains its seats and then picks up West Virginia and Daines’s home state of Montana, the two states where they’re polling best. But in order to capture Montana, they’ll have to defeat Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), who has fought several tight electoral races in the state.
Still, Daines is likely looking for more than just a majority. If the GOP can rack up enough seats, they can nullify any opposition from swing senators such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) or Susan Collins (R-ME) for further-right Republican-led initiatives. Fundraising is a key part of picking up extra seats, and Republicans haven’t shown signs of catching up.
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The House is expected to be far more competitive and could flip either way. The same could be said about the White House as former President Donald Trump dukes it out with Harris.
House or White House control would complement likely Senate control from Republicans.
