Senate Republicans' campaign arm borrows $20 million for the final stretch of the midterms

The committee that works to elect Republican senators borrowed $20 million last month, a fresh shot of cash as the party defends its majority on a map that has grown tougher heading into the Nov. 3 midterms. The National Republican Senatorial Committee took out a $17 million loan on Sept. 1 and another $3 million on Sept. 22, according to a report it gave federal election regulators on Tuesday.

The borrowing follows months in which the committee and other Republican groups bragged about having more money than Democrats. Republicans have been flooding TV with ads in key battleground states in a political climate that is not working in their favor.

How the committee explains it

The committee cast the loans as a way to keep that money edge. Its communications director said the group has raised record sums, kept its spending rate among the lowest of any party committee and moved fast to coordinate ads with candidates once new rules allowed it. She said Republicans will throw everything they can at protecting their Senate majority and predicted they will win.

Late-cycle loans are common for party campaign arms. The same committee borrowed $17 million in the 2024 cycle and $20 million in the 2022 cycle, federal records show.

The money picture

The committee raised $31 million in September and spent $41 million. It ended the month with about $28 million in the bank, a figure that includes the borrowed money. Of the amount raised in September, $18 million was sent over by the Republican National Committee.

Over the full cycle the Republican committee has raised $228 million, compared with $188 million for its Democratic counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Still, Democratic Senate candidates themselves have raised far more than their Republican opponents. The Democratic committee finished September with just under $25 million on hand and had taken out no loans at all this cycle.

Why the dollars go further now

This year party committees can work hand in hand with their candidates on advertising with fewer limits than before. Those joint ads also cost less to put on the air. That lets the committee stretch its borrowed money further than it could in past elections. Last month the committee spent nearly $34 million on ads made jointly with its candidates.

Republicans hold 53 Senate seats to 47 for Democrats. With two weeks left before Election Day, both parties are pouring money into races in states once seen as safe for the Republican Party, from Kansas to Mississippi.