A new fear among Republicans: The NRSC won’t be able to fund its part to target direct-mail voters and urge them to the polls in key battleground states, something the party committee has spent tens of millions of dollars on to do during the 2020 cycle.
McConnell, meanwhile, has been talking to major donors in recent weeks — going well beyond the traditional call list — in an effort to ensure that his high-spending super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, is flush with cash as they spend huge sums in TV ads in battleground states during the last two months of the campaign, a senior GOP source said.
In an August meeting with GOP senators, McConnell urged members to move money from their leadership PACs to the Senate Leadership Fund, even after a presentation showed Senate GOP leaders had given far less to the NRSC than top House Republicans had given their campaign. said a source familiar with the matter. Just two GOP senators defected to the NRSC after this presentation.
“Well, I’m very concerned,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of McConnell’s leadership team and former NRSC chairman, when asked about the commission’s spending. “Democrats will vastly outnumber Republicans across the board. But as long as we have enough money to tell our story and defend our opposition, I think we’ll be fine.”
Other prominent Republicans have also taken matters into their own hands. Sen. Whip John Thune of South Dakota is in talks with candidates to form joint fundraising committees to help them directly, according to a source familiar with the matter, and has expressed concerns about the NRSC’s cash problems.
Last week, the New York Times published a detailed report on the committee’s dire financial situation after betting heavily on digital fundraising, and Scott wrote an explosive op-ed that indirectly criticized McConnell for publicly questioning the “quality” of the nominees. them (Scott denied on Tuesday that he was targeting McConnell).
“I think we need to be united in our message,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, said Tuesday. “We have a big opportunity here and so I don’t think it’s a good strategy to argue two months before the election.”
The NRSC had raised $181.5 million by the end of July, but only had $23.2 million on hand. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised less — $173.1 million — but had $54.1 million on hand, more than double the NRSC’s amount. SLF, which can raise unlimited amounts from individuals and groups, had more than $104 million on hand at the end of June, according to the latest FEC report.
“He handed them a rare, one-of-a-kind Ferrari that took 10 years to build — and they dropped the hammer and drove it right into a brick wall,” said one longtime GOP strategist.
NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline said the cash disparity stems from the organization’s decision to strategically spend tens of millions of dollars on ads early in contests to boost Republicans. He said Scott “has been clear” with everyone since the start of the 2022 cycle — “and it’s working.”
“We are better positioned in each of our target states than we were at the beginning of the summer, largely because the NRSC is spending early and heavily to support our candidates and determine Democrats,” Hartline said. “We invested in tripling our home portfolio, an investment that is paying off now and will continue to pay off for cycles to come.”
“He told everybody what he was going to do, he did it, and it’s working,” Hartline added. “If anyone is surprised, they haven’t been paying attention.”
Scott’s joint fundraising committee has given more than $8 million to the NRSC, according to the latest FEC reports. The McConnell Victory Committee and Team McConnell have given nearly $700,000 to the NRSC.
But there are growing concerns about campaigns’ efforts to reach voters on Election Day — in large part because of the commission’s cash shortages.
During the 2020 election cycle, when the committee was chaired by Indiana Senator Todd Young, NRSC Targeted State Victory, a joint fundraising committee, raised over $18 million and sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to various state party committees to help voters to the polls. It raised another $1 million between January and March 2021 before the NRSC shut it down. Since then, the NRSC has created another joint fundraising committee, Take Back the Senate, which raised just $1.2 million from April 2021 to June 2022.
“The real problem I’m hearing from the campaigns is a budget hole for turnout mail,” the GOP front-runner said.
The GOP blames Scott’s approach to the primaries
Scott made the decision early in the cycle to abandon the tactics of his predecessors and maintain a handstand during qualifying. That approach, Republicans privately charged, ended up hurting some candidates — particularly in Ohio and Arizona — as they turned to the general election from the primaries. Since some lacked the candidate training, access to critical research and experienced staff and fundraisers that the NRSC had given candidates in previous cycles, it gave well-funded Democratic candidates a chance to bomb the airwaves while their GOP opponents were still finding ground. them in the general election. The NRSC said it has worked closely with various candidates and will do whatever is necessary to win in November.
In previous election cycles, McConnell has been heavily involved with the NRSC. But as his disagreements with Scott’s approach intensified, he has instead focused his efforts on his super PAC.
“McConnell decided rather than fight this to focus all his efforts on the SLF,” said a source familiar with the matter.
The issue resurfaced last month when McConnell acknowledged that the “quality of the candidate” could hurt the party’s ability to take back the chamber. The comments were in line with comments the GOP leader has made for years about Senate races, but were interpreted as a dig at some of the GOP field’s lackluster performances so far. Last week, Scott retaliated. He told Politico that he and McConnell “clearly have a strategic disagreement” over the party’s nominees. The Florida Republican also wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner criticizing unnamed Republicans for acting “treasonous to the conservative cause.”
“Unfortunately, many of the very people responsible for losing the last Senate cycle are now trying to prevent us from winning the majority this time around by talking up our Republican nominees,” Scott wrote.
While Scott did not mention McConnell by name, his op-ed was widely seen as a broadside against the GOP leader and his allies.
Asked if Scott’s article was helpful, Thune said, “Well,” and walked into McConnell’s office.
McConnell, as he left the Senate floor, walked silently when asked by reporters about Scott.
Scott claimed Tuesday that the piece was not directed at McConnell.
“I didn’t say anything about anybody else,” Scott said as he left McConnell’s office after a leadership meeting. “He said people doing anonymous quotes and trashing our candidates, yes, it’s a betrayal of the conservative cause.”
Privately though the assessment is different.
“McConnell’s comments hurt the Republican candidates,” said a source close to Scott. “Anyone who disagrees with that is either an idiot or on McConnell’s payroll.”
A senior GOP strategist fired back.
“If you don’t know the difference between how House and Senate campaigns are financed, you probably shouldn’t be advertising it in September of an election year if you’re in charge of Senate elections,” the general said.
Scott, who may run for President in 2024, is expected to appear with a House candidate in Iowa this month, as well as Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.
The back-and-forth has made GOP senators uncomfortable.
“It’s clear to me that Republicans need to rally around their nominees if we’re ever going to succeed, and we can’t afford to have divisions in our convention,” said Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, former NRSC chairman. up for re-election this year.
“It’s always better to stand behind Mitch McConnell,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, said the NRSC controversy is “a distraction from what will motivate voters,” saying he has confidence in Scott to run the NRSC while acknowledging it’s wrong for Republicans fighting internally instead of fighting Democrats.
“I don’t think it ever makes sense — I’ve been doing this since 2007 — and it always makes sense to focus on who you want to beat in November, not each other,” he said.
Scott and McConnell, the longest-serving Republican leader in the Senate, have also clashed over Scott’s decision to release a plan to “save America” that at least briefly diverted attention from the perceived failures of Republicans in the Biden administration. The White House sharply criticized Scott’s provisions to require every American to pay at least some income tax and to phase out all federal laws in five years. Democrats are still shooting down the plan on the campaign trail, something McConnell feared as he tried to avoid offering an election-year agenda that Democrats could attack.
“Let me tell you what would not be part of our agenda,” McConnell said at a news conference after Scott unveiled his plan. “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that will raise taxes on half the American people and gut Social Security and Medicare within five years.” In June, Scott…
