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A month into 2026, midterm races are starting to heat up and we are getting a better look at the candidates' early fundraising efforts. Below we offer some highlights. And of course Sunday is the Super Bowl. Whether you are gathering with friends or sticking close to home for the Big Game, you are likely going to be inundated with messaging from industries and organizations that spent millions on political influence. We break down some of the biggest players' lobbying and election contributions. |
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Democrats have fundraising edge in key Senate races, but GOP leads the House |
With narrow margins in both chambers of Congress, a handful of races could determine which party controls the House and Senate following the 2026 midterm elections. Year-end campaign finance reports analyzed by OpenSecrets show Republicans hold an edge in the most competitive House races while Democrats dominate key Senate races. Hien An Ngo and Emma Sullivan broke down the numbers with a huge assist from our research team. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) reported the biggest fundraising totals, by far, for their respective chambers’ elections. And Democrats grabbed most of the top-five spots for both the House and Senate. But Republicans outraised Democrats in a majority of the most competitive House races, relying on the advantage of incumbency as the nation heads into the primary season. |
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia far outpaced every other Senate candidate in 2025 fundraising as he seeks reelection in one of the most competitive races of the 2026 cycle, a contest expected to be a key factor in determining control of the chamber. Ossoff reported $43 million in net receipts, about $14.8 million more than the next-highest Senate candidate, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) of Illinois, who reported $28.2 million (thanks in large part to transfers from his House campaign committee), according to Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by OpenSecrets. Ossoff also leads the field in cash on hand — the money campaigns have available to spend — reporting $25.6 million in the bank. Georgia is one of four "toss-up" Senate races, according to the Cook Poltical Report. The top GOP fundraiser in the that race was Rep. Buddy Carter, who took in $6.2 million. Highlights from the other three contests: |
- In Michigan’s open Senate race, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens leads the field with roughly $6 million raised, followed by Republican Rep. Mike Rogers and a pair of Democrats, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and physician Abdul El-Sayed, each reporting more than $5 million.
- In Maine, incumbent Susan Collins is favored to win the Republican primary. On the Democratic side, political newcomer Graham Platner managed to outraise Collins in 2025. But the incumbent has been stockpiling cash: Her campaign finishing the year with over $8 million in its reserves.
- The North Carolina race opened up in the summer when GOP Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would retire at the end of his term. Cooper is leading the fundraising competition, having far outraised every other candidate in the field. Since launching his bid for Senate in July, the former governor raised a stunning $17.6 million and has $12.4 million in cash on hand.
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Over in the House, where polls show Democrats favored to win control of the chamber, Republicans are leading the money battle in a majority of individual races, including the most competitive contests. While Democrats maintain a significant overall cash advantage, driven in part by a larger slate of candidates and strong fundraising from top House members, they still lag behind Republicans in most races featuring both a Republican and a Democrat. Of the 310 races in which there is at least one Republican and one Democratic candidate, Republicans have a fundraising advantage in about three-fifths, with their candidates having raised more than Democrats in 2025. Overall, Democrats running for the House raised $497 million in 2025, about 20 percent more than Republicans. But crucially, Republicans are running far fewer candidates, with 657 as compared to Democrats’ 965 candidates. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) raised $23.5 million last year. She eclipsed not only the $15.2 million she brought in during the entire 2024 election cycle, but every other House candidate last year as well, including the chamber’s top leaders. Second to Ocasio was Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who totaled $14.5 million. The most popular House Democrats carried significant weight for their party. The top five Democratic House candidates raised a combined $56.3 million, compared with about $40.8 million from the top five Republicans. |
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) ended the year with the most cash on hand. Khanna had a strong year, raking in almost as much as he totaled during the 2024 election cycle. He was one of the leaders of a bipartisan effort to compel the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. |
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Beer, wings and ballots: The Super Bowl LX political playbook |
Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying and campaign contributions will be on display Sunday during Super Bowl LX, reports Jonathan D. Salant. “There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl,” said Rogan Kersh, a professor of public policy, the global vice chancellor at New York University, and an expert on lobbying and politics. “Companies paying a huge premium to advertise aim to burnish their brand with consumers and clients. And many are also eager to reach political leaders – whose decisions about regulation, taxation and government spending can be crucial to a company’s bottom line.” Other than the men on the field, these are some of the big players in Super Bowl LX. Figures cover Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2025, and come from OpenSecrets and the Federal Election Commission. |
- 🍗 Chicken wings. The National Chicken Council, which represents the chicken industry, says 1.5 billion wings will be eaten on Super Bowl Sunday. In 2025, the trade group spent $440,000 lobbying on issues such as worker safety and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, compared with $520,000 in 2024. Its political action committee contributed $213,500 to federal candidates last year.
- 🥑🥗 Chips and dip. SNAC International, formerly the Snack Food Association, reported $390,000 in lobbying expenses last year, compared with $440,000 in 2024. Lobbying issues included tariffs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food processing. Its PAC made $26,500 in campaign donations in 2025.
- 🍺 Having a cold one. The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s PAC contributed $1.5 million to federal candidates, leadership PACs and party committees last year, and the trade group spent the same amount to lobby in 2025, down slightly (from $1.7 million) a year earlier. Its issues included the tax levied only on multimillion-dollar estates and other tax breaks. Of course, what’s a Super Bowl without a Budweiser ad? Anheuser-Busch InBev, the biggest U.S. brewery by volume, spent $5.4 million to lobby in 2025 – up from $5.1 million in 2024 – on such issues as differentiating beer from liquor and cannabis, and its political action committee made $257,500 in donations to federal candidates and national party committees.
- 🏈 Playing politics. The National Football League’s Gridiron PAC contributed $482,500 to candidates and committees last year, including $15,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $20,000 to the joint fundraising committee of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The NFL spent a record $2 million in 2025, up from $1.5 million in 2024, to lobby on such issues as stadium construction, sports betting and security. Its lobbyists include Brian Ballard, who has parlayed his close ties with President Donald Trump into the biggest lobbying firm by revenue.
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Want to know who’s funding the candidates and causes shaping our democracy? With our Donor Lookup tools, you can quickly and easily search millions of federal campaign contributions. This weekend, you might want to look for data related to the Super Bow. For example, we found that: |
Whether you’re a concerned voter, journalist, researcher, or just a curious citizen, Donor Lookup puts transparency at your fingertips. |
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See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week: |
Does Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Old District Want to Do All That Again? (NOTUS) Greene, who did not respond to a request for comment, was first elected to the House in 2020, and for much of her tenure was one of Trump’s closest allies. After arriving on the Hill, she was chided by Democrats for her promotion of conspiracy theories and violence. They removed her from her committee assignments during her first term in response, in part, to her past racist and anti-semitic comments. Greene’s national profile only grew: She was among the top five fundraisers in her party from 2021 to 2022 out of all House members seeking reelection, according to OpenSecrets. |
Rep. Pressley’s surging net worth and assets exposed in new report (Fox News) Our team dug into OpenSecrets and financial disclosure reports. What we found is that when Ayanna Pressley was elected to Congress back in 2018, she had a negative net worth. Fast forward to today, she's worth $1.43 million dollars with assets worth up to $8 million. |
A Friend of the Show (Montana Free Press) Brendan Glavin, who watchdogs political spending for the nonprofit OpenSecrets, observed that a lot of what LIA PAC does is move money between other PACs. It’s a pass-through. “Part of it is, there’s a lot of money coming in and then going back out to other groups. So, they’re just acting like a pass-through in some cases. Some of the money is being spent in Montana, but some of it is just being passed back through, to Club For Growth, a super PAC,” Glavin told Capitolized on Thursday. “It’s not always clear why you would do that. In the case of money moving around between organizations, it certainly makes it harder to keep track.” |
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