Georgetown’s caucus on the ballot: FEC filings show wide money gaps for alumni in Congress

By Helena Thorncroft

WASHINGTON — Georgetown University sent 28 alumni and faculty members into the 119th Congress, the university said when they were sworn in. Nine days before the Nov. 3 election, an Inquisitor review of Federal Election Commission filings shows how unevenly that Hilltop caucus is positioned: some alumni hold double- and triple-digit cash advantages over their challengers, while two of the most prominent face the closest races of their careers.

The review covers every Georgetown graduate on the university’s list whose campaign committee filed a 2026 report with the FEC, using the pre-general reports that run through Oct. 14 unless otherwise noted. Opponent figures are for the other major-party candidate who filed a pre-general report in the same race. All dollar figures are from the candidates’ principal campaign committees and do not include super PACs or party spending, which in several of these races exceeds what the candidates themselves have raised.

The Inquisitor does not suggest that Georgetown, which is nonpartisan, has a stake in any of these contests. The common thread is a degree, not a party: the list runs from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to Republican Reps. Bryan Steil and August Pfluger.

The two Senate races

Two Georgetown alumni are on the Senate ballot this year, and they sit at opposite ends of the money table.

Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, a 2009 graduate of the School of Foreign Service, had raised $136.6 million for the cycle through Oct. 14 and had $15.1 million in the bank, according to the FEC. His Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, had raised about $10.7 million and held about $1.1 million, FEC data show. That is roughly a 13-to-1 advantage in both measures. Collins has made Ossoff’s education an issue, calling the contest “a race between Georgia and Georgetown,” as the Inquisitor reported this morning.

Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who earned graduate and law degrees from Georgetown in 1993, is in the reverse position. Sullivan had raised $14.1 million and had $2.84 million on hand, per the FEC, while Democrat Mary Peltola, the former congresswoman, had raised $36.9 million and held $4.1 million, FEC data show.

The polls are as tight as the money is lopsided. A Data for Progress survey of 694 likely voters, conducted Oct. 8-16, found Peltola leading Sullivan 47% to 44% in first-choice votes and 51% to 49% in a simulated final ranked-choice round, within the ±4-point margin of error, the progressive polling firm reported. The same survey put Sullivan’s favorability at 44% and his unfavorability at 54%, his lowest net rating in the firm’s six Alaska surveys since February 2024.

One complication on the Alaska ballot shows up in the FEC data as well. A second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired Petersburg teacher who shares the senator’s name, is on the ballot, Data for Progress noted; his committee had raised $30,556 and had $1,902 on hand, according to the FEC. Data for Progress found that if his voters’ exhausted ballots were transferred to the senator, the race would be tied.

Contested House seats

Eight Georgetown-educated House members face opponents who filed pre-general reports. In most of these races the alumnus has a commanding cash lead, though the margins vary widely.

Three findings stand out.

First, the closest money races are among the Republicans. Rep. Derek Schmidt of Kansas, a Georgetown Law graduate, had raised only about 1.3 times as much as Democrat Don Coover, FEC data show, and Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who earned a Georgetown graduate degree in 2022, had raised about 1.3 times as much as Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker, according to the FEC. Turner’s committee had also spent more than it raised, reporting $1.42 million in disbursements against $1.32 million in receipts, per the FEC.

Second, Rep. Bryan Steil, a 2003 graduate of the McDonough School of Business who chairs the House Administration Committee, faces the best-funded challenger on the list. Democrat Mitchell Berman had raised nearly $2 million, FEC data show, though Steil had more than six times as much cash on hand.

Third, Rep. April McClain Delaney of Maryland, a 1989 Georgetown Law graduate, has raised more than any House alumnus except Jeffries, $12.5 million, but she had only $121,839 left on Oct. 14, according to the FEC, after spending $12.4 million. Much of that went to a primary. McClain Delaney defeated her predecessor, former Rep. David Trone, in the June 23 Democratic primary, Roll Call reported, by 44% to 37%, according to Maryland’s official results. Trone’s committee had reported $26.2 million in receipts through Sept. 30, FEC data show. Her general election opponent is Republican Robin Ficker, who won his party’s primary, the Herald-Mail reported.

The rest of the caucus

Other Georgetown alumni with 2026 House committees are in districts without a well-funded challenger in the FEC’s pre-general data. Their numbers are shown for completeness.

Jeffries’ committee is the largest House account among the alumni, though it has spent more than it raised this cycle, $18.6 million against $17.9 million, according to the FEC. That is typical of party leaders, whose principal committees transfer money to colleagues and party committees. Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts stands out at the other end: her cash on hand equaled about 95% of what she had raised this cycle, the highest share among the alumni in these tables, per the FEC.

Who is leaving

Three Georgetown alumni now in Congress will not return in January as members of the House or Senate.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a 1966 Georgetown Law graduate and former House majority leader, is retiring. State Del. Adrian Boafo won the Democratic primary to succeed him, the Associated Press reported. Hoyer’s committee still reported $229,879 on hand through Sept. 30, according to the FEC.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate Democratic whip, who holds both an SFS degree (1966) and a Georgetown Law degree (1969), is retiring. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the Democratic primary for his seat, Reuters reported. Durbin’s committee had $840,652 on hand on Sept. 30, per the FEC.

Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a 1988 SFS graduate, left the delegate’s race to run for governor of the territory and won the Democratic primary with Senate President Milton Potter as her running mate, The Virgin Islands Daily News reported. Her federal committee had $10,709 on hand on Oct. 14, according to the FEC.

What the numbers mean, and what they don’t

Money is not destiny. Ossoff’s 13-to-1 advantage over Collins coincides with a polling lead, while in Alaska Sullivan is narrowly behind in the Data for Progress survey and is also behind Peltola in fundraising. Outside spending, which the FEC reports separately, can swamp candidate accounts in competitive Senate races.

Nor does the list capture alumni whose terms run past 2026. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (C’80), Chris Van Hollen (L’90), Mazie Hirono (L’78) and John Barrasso (C’74, M’78) are not among the senators whose terms expire in January 2027 and do not appear in the tables.

Methodology: The Inquisitor matched the names on Georgetown’s list of alumni sworn into the 119th Congress to FEC candidate records for the 2026 cycle and pulled totals from the FEC’s public API. Figures cover each candidate’s principal campaign committee for the two-year period beginning Jan. 1, 2025. Opponents were identified as the other major-party candidate in the same race who filed a pre-general report; in Georgia, Alaska and Maryland’s 6th District, the nominees were confirmed with news reports or official results. Reports filed after Oct. 14 are not included.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the campaigns of each alumnus named in the tables, and from the White House on the Senate races. This story will be updated with any response.

Photo: Healy Hall, Georgetown University (cropped). Warren LeMay, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.