Leadership super PACs spent $344 million in two weeks and still had $327 million on Oct. 14

By Teresa Valdane

WASHINGTON — The four super PACs that each party’s congressional leaders rely on spent a combined $343.8 million in the first two weeks of October and still had $327.4 million in the bank on Oct. 14, according to pre-general election reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.

The reports cover Oct. 1 through Oct. 14 and are the last full accounting the groups must file before the Nov. 3 election. They come from the Republican Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund, and the Democratic Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.

The two weeks in numbers

Senate Majority PAC spends through other groups

Senate Majority PAC reported no independent expenditures of its own in the period. Instead, it reported $81.4 million in transfers to committees it lists as affiliated and $26.3 million in contributions to other political committees. The largest recipient was WinSenate, which the FEC lists as a super PAC: three transfers of $25 million, $25 million and $15 million on Oct. 1, 7 and 9 totaled $65 million. Texas Forever received $10 million, North Star $4.9 million and The Georgia Way $1.5 million. Among contributions, Duty and Country, another super PAC, received $17.5 million, Lower Costs Now $7 million and Lone Star Rising PAC $1 million.

That structure leaves Senate Majority PAC with the smallest cash reserve of the four, $32.7 million, though the money it moved may still be unspent in the receiving committees’ accounts. Those committees file their own reports.

Where the Republican Senate money went

Senate Leadership Fund’s itemized independent expenditures, which total $75 million, were overwhelmingly against Democrats. The largest target was former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, at $24.75 million, followed by Josh Turek in Iowa ($10.98 million), Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan ($9.31 million), Troy Jackson in Maine ($8.77 million) and Adam Hamilton in Kansas ($5.66 million). It also spent against Mary Peltola in Alaska ($3.72 million), Annie Andrews in South Carolina ($3.64 million), Chris Pappas in New Hampshire ($3.12 million), Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia ($1.97 million) and independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska ($1.25 million). Its largest expenditure supporting a candidate was $730,000 for Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio.

The group’s biggest receipts in the period included $5 million from the National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund, $2 million from investor Cliff Asness, $1.5 million each from Altria Client Services and RAI Services Co., and $1.2 million from GOPAC Election Fund. It also gave $2.7 million to Plains PAC and $1.4 million to 75 PAC.

The House fight

In the House, the two leadership super PACs came within about $2.2 million of each other on independent expenditures. Both focused heavily on the same Florida race: the reports list it as the 25th District, where Congressional Leadership Fund spent $6.13 million against Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz and House Majority PAC spent $6.28 million against Republican Scott Singer.

Congressional Leadership Fund’s other top targets were William Lawrence in Michigan’s 7th ($4.45 million), Don Davis in North Carolina’s 1st ($4.13 million), Christina Hines in Michigan’s 10th ($3.79 million) and Cait Conley in New York’s 17th ($3.38 million). House Majority PAC’s itemized spending, which totaled $79 million across 59 candidates, went most heavily against Casey Askar in Florida’s 22nd ($5.03 million), Michael Bouchard in Michigan’s 10th ($3.54 million), Max Miller in Ohio’s 7th ($3.38 million) and Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s 7th ($3.12 million). Its total of itemized entries is higher than the $72.4 million on its summary page; the filing does not explain the difference, which can come from timing or memo entries.

House Majority PAC’s $44 million haul included a $16 million contribution from Michael Bloomberg on Oct. 9, $5 million from Better World Civic Trust and $4.66 million from the Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund. It reported $7.08 million in debts at the close of the period. Congressional Leadership Fund raised $3.17 million in the two weeks; its largest donors were Hillwood Development Co. and Patriotic Fund at $1 million each and Occidental Petroleum at $500,000.

What the numbers do not show

These reports cover only the four groups’ own books. They do not include spending by allied super PACs, nonprofit groups, or the party committees themselves, which file separately. Spending after Oct. 14 appears in 24- and 48-hour independent expenditure notices, and the groups’ next full reports are due Dec. 3, a month after the election.

The Washington Inquisitor asked Senate Leadership Fund, Senate Majority PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund and House Majority PAC about their spending plans and the figures above, and asked the campaigns of Josh Turek and Jared Moskowitz for comment on the spending against them. This story will be updated with any responses.

Photo: A voting booth inside the Old State House in Hartford, Conn. Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.