Democrats post early fundraising edge in marquee 2026 Senate races
Same show, different day.
One bright spot for Democrats as they face a tough path to taking back the Senate this year: Their candidates are raising a lot of money.
Democrats outraised their GOP counterparts across several of this year’s marquee Senate races heading into 2026, according to new filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won, enters the year with a massive fundraising advantage over any of his GOP rivals in battleground Georgia. Democrats in North Carolina and Ohio also started the year with a major financial edge over their GOP rivals.
But heated Democratic primaries have helped Republicans maintain a cash advantage in a few key states, including Michigan, Maine and Iowa.
Strong fundraising will be critical to Democrats’ efforts to hold all their seats — including several that are open following battleground senators’ retirements — while also flipping four Republican ones.
In a handful of primaries, including the Democratic contests in Michigan and Texas and the Republican lineup in Georgia, fourth-quarter fundraising numbers largely did not show any one candidate majorly distinguishing themselves from the rest.
Here’s a rundown of what the fundraising looked like in key Senate races.
Georgia
Ossoff holds a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents duking it out in the primary. He raised $9.9 million in the final quarter of 2025 and ended the year with $25.5 million in his war chest — numbers that are substantially higher than all of his GOP rivals combined.
Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter brought in the most in the GOP primary, raising $1.7 million and entering 2026 with $4.1 million cash on hand. Ex-football coach Derek Dooley reported raising $1.1 million, while Rep. Mike Collins raised just shy of $825,000. Dooley ended the quarter with $2.1 million left in the bank, while Collins reported having $2.3 million.
While Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage, the gap is likely to shrink when the Republican nominee is selected in May and the party, including its donors, coalesces around one candidate.
North Carolina
Democratic former governor Roy Cooper maintains a fundraising advantage in North Carolina over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.
Cooper broke fundraising records when he launched his campaign and has continued to bring in large sums, raising $7 million from October through December last year, according to his filings with the FEC — nearly double the $3.8 million Whatley raised during the same period. Cooper entered 2026 with $12.3 million in his campaign coffers, a sizable haul that will be necessary as he prepares for November.
Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump, ended the fourth …
Same show, different day.
One bright spot for Democrats as they face a tough path to taking back the Senate this year: Their candidates are raising a lot of money.
Democrats outraised their GOP counterparts across several of this year’s marquee Senate races heading into 2026, according to new filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won, enters the year with a massive fundraising advantage over any of his GOP rivals in battleground Georgia. Democrats in North Carolina and Ohio also started the year with a major financial edge over their GOP rivals.
But heated Democratic primaries have helped Republicans maintain a cash advantage in a few key states, including Michigan, Maine and Iowa.
Strong fundraising will be critical to Democrats’ efforts to hold all their seats — including several that are open following battleground senators’ retirements — while also flipping four Republican ones.
In a handful of primaries, including the Democratic contests in Michigan and Texas and the Republican lineup in Georgia, fourth-quarter fundraising numbers largely did not show any one candidate majorly distinguishing themselves from the rest.
Here’s a rundown of what the fundraising looked like in key Senate races.
Georgia
Ossoff holds a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents duking it out in the primary. He raised $9.9 million in the final quarter of 2025 and ended the year with $25.5 million in his war chest — numbers that are substantially higher than all of his GOP rivals combined.
Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter brought in the most in the GOP primary, raising $1.7 million and entering 2026 with $4.1 million cash on hand. Ex-football coach Derek Dooley reported raising $1.1 million, while Rep. Mike Collins raised just shy of $825,000. Dooley ended the quarter with $2.1 million left in the bank, while Collins reported having $2.3 million.
While Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage, the gap is likely to shrink when the Republican nominee is selected in May and the party, including its donors, coalesces around one candidate.
North Carolina
Democratic former governor Roy Cooper maintains a fundraising advantage in North Carolina over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.
Cooper broke fundraising records when he launched his campaign and has continued to bring in large sums, raising $7 million from October through December last year, according to his filings with the FEC — nearly double the $3.8 million Whatley raised during the same period. Cooper entered 2026 with $12.3 million in his campaign coffers, a sizable haul that will be necessary as he prepares for November.
Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump, ended the fourth …
Democrats post early fundraising edge in marquee 2026 Senate races
Same show, different day.
One bright spot for Democrats as they face a tough path to taking back the Senate this year: Their candidates are raising a lot of money.
Democrats outraised their GOP counterparts across several of this year’s marquee Senate races heading into 2026, according to new filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won, enters the year with a massive fundraising advantage over any of his GOP rivals in battleground Georgia. Democrats in North Carolina and Ohio also started the year with a major financial edge over their GOP rivals.
But heated Democratic primaries have helped Republicans maintain a cash advantage in a few key states, including Michigan, Maine and Iowa.
Strong fundraising will be critical to Democrats’ efforts to hold all their seats — including several that are open following battleground senators’ retirements — while also flipping four Republican ones.
In a handful of primaries, including the Democratic contests in Michigan and Texas and the Republican lineup in Georgia, fourth-quarter fundraising numbers largely did not show any one candidate majorly distinguishing themselves from the rest.
Here’s a rundown of what the fundraising looked like in key Senate races.
Georgia
Ossoff holds a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents duking it out in the primary. He raised $9.9 million in the final quarter of 2025 and ended the year with $25.5 million in his war chest — numbers that are substantially higher than all of his GOP rivals combined.
Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter brought in the most in the GOP primary, raising $1.7 million and entering 2026 with $4.1 million cash on hand. Ex-football coach Derek Dooley reported raising $1.1 million, while Rep. Mike Collins raised just shy of $825,000. Dooley ended the quarter with $2.1 million left in the bank, while Collins reported having $2.3 million.
While Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage, the gap is likely to shrink when the Republican nominee is selected in May and the party, including its donors, coalesces around one candidate.
North Carolina
Democratic former governor Roy Cooper maintains a fundraising advantage in North Carolina over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.
Cooper broke fundraising records when he launched his campaign and has continued to bring in large sums, raising $7 million from October through December last year, according to his filings with the FEC — nearly double the $3.8 million Whatley raised during the same period. Cooper entered 2026 with $12.3 million in his campaign coffers, a sizable haul that will be necessary as he prepares for November.
Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump, ended the fourth …
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