Last weekend, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) held a fundraiser on Sea Island, Ga., during which Jason Thielman, the group’s executive director, did some level-setting with donors on the state of play in key Senate battlegrounds just a few weeks out from Election Day.
While there is strong polling momentum for many Republican candidates looking to win open seats or oust vulnerable Democratic incumbents, the NRSC’s late-September optimism came with a warning to donors about GOP candidates’ lagging financial resources against their Democratic opponents in the final stretch.
Thielman reiterated to donors that “Democrat candidates’ enormous candidate cash advantage remains the biggest challenge to Senate Republicans having a big night in November,” a person who attended the meeting recalled to National Review. So even though the NRSC has broken its own fundraising this cycle by raking in more than $200 million so far, GOP donors need to keep in mind that Democrats continue to dominate their Republican challengers in the fundraising department at this point in the race.
As part of his pitch, Thielman also made the case to donors gathered for the private Georgia fundraising retreat that the GOP nominee will be a boon to Senate GOP candidates running tough races in red and purple states, pointing to his history of outperforming public polling. His fundraiser presentation included a slide showing how Donald Trump is polling better now in many of RealClearPolitics’ key swing-state polling averages against Kamala Harris than he was at this point in the race against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, according to the source who was present.