House campaign committees sitting on $100M in bank

PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The two party committees tasked with electing House members are sitting on a combined $100 million pile of cash, suggesting voters in the handful of competitive districts will face an onslaught of late political advertising.

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Saturday reported raising more than $4 million last month and banking almost $46 million. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week announced it raised more than $10 million and has almost $55 million ready to help its candidates.

Democrats have now outraised the Republicans in 18 of the last 20 months despite long odds of tipping control of the chamber away from Republicans.

Republicans are expected to hold onto their majority after November’s elections, when all 435 House seats are up for election. Redrawn congressional districts favor Republicans, and only a handful of seats are seen as competitive. At the same time, the party that holds the White House tends to lose seats at this point in a president’s term, and President Barack Obama remains deeply unpopular in many congressional districts.

Even so, the parties have been raising and spending heavily.

In August, the Democrats spent more than $12 million to help House incumbents and candidates. The GOP spent half that, but $6 million is still twice what it spent in July.

Combined, the two party committees have raised more than $260 million so far and have spent $163 million.

There are currently 233 Republicans and 199 Democrats in the House. Three seats are vacant.

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Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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