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With just over three weeks to go until Election Day, more and more red states and congressional districts appear in reach for the Democrats, as they work to win back House and Senate majorities from the Republicans in the midterms. But a massive Republican spending advantage threatens to complicate those ambitions.
Republican campaigns, committees and aligned groups have outspent their Democratic counterparts by $400 million so far this election cycle, according to AdImpact, a leading political advertising tracking firm.
The disparity is forcing Democrats to make difficult decisions about where to invest and how much to spend as the party tries to expand the electoral map.
"We are being outspent by the Republicans. That's just a fact," Lauren French, communications director at the Senate Majority PAC, told Fox News Digital. "In many of these states, they have really transactionalized elections, so they have monopoly money to play with, whereas we are working with real resources."
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The latest Fox News Power Rankings shifted GOP-dominated South Carolina from Solid to Likely Republican. The Senate showdown in reliably Republican Kansas is Lean Republican, while the races in red-leaning Alaska, Iowa, Ohio and Texas are rated toss-ups.
"Senate Majority PAC has resources to compete, and we are very happy that we're able to be in 9 battleground states," French said.
The super PAC is the leading outside group supporting Democratic Senate candidates and incumbents and is aligned with longtime Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.
French highlighted record-setting fundraising over the past three months, but added, "of course, more recess resources would be helpful."
With the latest polls from Fox News and other organizations showing Democrats increasingly competitive across the Senate map, the party is pleading for more money.
"Last month a pro-Trump PAC reserved $10 million in New Hampshire advertising, and we're being outspent 3-to-1," reads a fundraising pitch to supporters by Rep. Chris Pappas, the Democratic Senate nominee in swing state New Hampshire.
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Senate Majority PAC is rushing some of its record fundraising into the newly competitive battlegrounds. And American Bridge PAC, a Democrat-aligned group, recently pumped over $20 million into South Carolina and Kansas, as well as competitive races in two other red states, Florida and Mississippi.
But the Democratic groups are being outspent by their Republican-aligned counterparts, thanks to major expenditures by Senate Leadership Fund, the President Donald Trump-allied MAGA Inc. and a super PAC bankrolled by Elon Musk.
"The hard reality is there isn't enough funding to protect the toss-up states and also heavily invest in the red-leaning states where we're playing offense," a veteran Democratic Senate operative who requested anonymity to speak candidly told Fox News Digital."
French told Fox News Digital "This is the time in the campaign season where everyone really has to make some of those belt-tightening decisions, and that's why we're looking at every race really closely to make sure we have enough resources to get to the majority, but we're also not leaving anyone shortchanged."
House Democrats are facing a similar predicament.
A memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) shared with donors warned that Republicans "are now flooding districts across our battlefield with MAGA Inc. and Trump super PAC money that we simply cannot match."
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The memo, which was obtained by Fox News Digital, requested an additional $17 million that was needed by Oct. 22 "to close the sale" in what they described as "winnable races."
The GOP is fighting political history, which has traditionally seen the party in power in Washington lose congressional seats during midterm election years. Add to that a challenging political climate fueled by persistent inflation Americans see at the grocery store, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump's negative approval ratings.
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But the Republicans' financial advantage has allowed GOP campaigns and allied groups to spend more on political advertising nationally.
"Thanks to the tireless efforts of Leader John Thune, Senate Leadership Fund has amassed a financial advantage that neither party has had before. SLF will continue to invest unprecedented resources across the map to maintain the Republican Senate majority," Senate Leadership Fund communications director Chris Gustafson told Fox News Digital.
Veteran GOP strategist Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital that "Republican outside groups will have played a decisive role in positive Republican performance if they have a good election night despite what is strong headwinds working against them."
"This is not an advantage Republicans typically have and it's definitely a contributing factor to a lot of candidates on the ballot right now keeping their races close," Hunt emphasized.
