WASHINGTON (AP) — The father of Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy is among the million-dollar donors to an outside group helping Democrats try to win back the Senate. Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association’s political committee is pooling together small contributions to run attack ads against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Those are among the findings of the earliest campaign finance reports this weekend. The presidential candidates and many outside groups must report their July fundraising and spending details to the Federal Election Commission by midnight Saturday. Here’s what we know so far:
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SENATE MONEY FLOWS IN
Outside groups facing no contribution limits are piling up money ahead of what could by a brutal fight for control of the Senate, with Indiana, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio among the key races. The Senate Majority PAC, a super political action committee with ties to Minority Leader Harry Reid, netted $7.3 million in July — its best fundraising yet this year.
Among the donors giving $1 million was Thomas Murphy, whose son is likely to face off with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. The Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corporation, a network of heath care facilities in the northeast, and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, also wrote $1 million checks. Billionaire New York investor George Soros gave $500,000, and hedge fund manager James Simons gave $900,000.
On the Republican side, the Freedom Partners Action Fund is among the biggest groups spending in Senate races. In July, it counted a single donor, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, as a major donor. He gave $1 million. Freedom Partners is one of many political and policy groups steered by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, who are uncomfortable with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and have decided to concentrate on down-ballot races. Likewise, Singer is not a Trump backer.
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NRA AIMS AT CLINTON, PLANNED PARENTHOOD AT TRUMP
The National Rifle Association, which endorsed Trump over the summer, through its political committee has aired about $5 million in TV ads knocking Clinton. That helped keep pro-Trump messages on the airwaves even as he sat out. (The Trump campaign began advertising this week.)
The NRA Political Victory Fund’s July fundraising shows that the majority of its $1 million raised came from donors giving $200 or less. The committee had $12.3 million in the bank as this month began.
A pro-Trump group called Great America PAC landed its biggest contribution yet in July, $100,000 from billionaire Charles Johnson, a backer of vanquished GOP Trump rival Jeb Bush and owner of the San Francisco Giants. Great America PAC has spent about $2 million on Trump-themed ads, most of which are aimed at getting viewers to call in to pledge money to the group.
Among those counterpunching for Clinton is the Planned Parenthood’s super PAC. The group has been canvassing for voters and putting up online ads to hit Trump and boost Clinton. Soros pops up on its donor list. He gave $1.5 million in July, by far its largest donation of the month. Hedge fund firm founder Tom Steyer is also backing Clinton through his own super PAC, NextGen Climate Action Committee. The California billionaire pumped another $7 million into his group in July.
The majority of NextGen’s July spending took the form of donations to other groups, including a labor union super PAC that backs Clinton.
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TRUMP, CLINTON RAISED RECORDS SUMS
Ahead of their filings, Trump and Clinton announced their July fundraising totals.
Trump, who did not raise much money during the primary and had no finance team until late May, has proven a surprisingly strong fundraiser. In July, he raised more than $80 million for his campaign and allied Republican Party groups, his campaign said. That’s just shy of the $90 million Clinton’s aides said they collected in July for her campaign and fellow Democratic committees.
Clinton’s campaign said it began this month with more than $58 million in the bank. Trump’s campaign said that as of Aug 1 it had $37 million in cash and another $37 million in joint accounts with the Republican National Committee.
Campaign finance documents will give details about how both candidates spent their money in July.
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