Democrats — and Elon Musk — continue to dominate midterm campaign fundraising

Heard on Morning Edition The 2026 midterms are on track to be the most expensive on record, driven by enthusiasm for Democratic candidates and massive contributions by Republican megadonors, especially Elon Musk.

在早间版中听到，在民主党候选人的热情和共和党巨额捐助者（尤其是埃隆·马斯克）的巨额捐款的推动下，2026 年中期选举有望成为有记录以来最昂贵的中期选举。

More than $15 billion has been raised since the start of 2025, according to Federal Election Commission data , and half of that has been spent so far.

根据联邦选举委员会的数据，自 2025 年初以来已筹集了超过 150 亿美元，其中一半迄今已支出。

Ad spending on House and Senate races has topped $4 billion, with hundreds of millions of dollars more planned for the final two weeks of the election, according to AdImpact data.

AdImpact 数据显示，众议院和参议院竞选的广告支出已超过 40 亿美元，选举最后两周还计划增加数亿美元。

After winning the White House and a narrow majority in the House and Senate in 2024, Republicans now face an electorate that has soured on President Trump's agenda amid an unpopular war in Iran, high fuel costs and rising prices.

2024 年赢得白宫并在参众两院获得微弱多数后，共和党现在面临着选民对特朗普总统议程的不满，原因是伊朗战争不受欢迎、燃料成本高昂和物价上涨。

The Democratic Party as a national brand is unpopular, too.

民主党作为一个民族品牌也不受欢迎。

But a crop of Senate candidates in more conservative-leaning states like Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Ohio, and Democratic hopefuls in newly competitive House districts, have surged in polls and fundraising.

但爱荷华州、得克萨斯州、堪萨斯州和俄亥俄州等倾向保守的州的一批参议员候选人，以及新竞争激烈的众议院选区的民主党候选人，在民意调查和筹款方面都大幅上升。

Despite Democrats' fundraising advantage at the candidate level, Republican outside groups — including a trio of super PACs tied to Trump's MAGA, Inc. — have outspent Democrats on the airwaves to try to paint that party as too extreme to control Congress.

尽管民主党在候选人层面拥有筹款优势，但共和党外部团体——包括与特朗普的“MAGA, Inc.”有关联的三个超级政治行动委员会——在电视广播上花费超过民主党，试图将该党描绘成过于极端而无法控制国会。

Here are four takeaways from the latest campaign finance filings and what they say about the sprint to Election Day.

以下是最新竞选财务文件的四个要点以及他们对选举日冲刺的看法。

One of the more surprising developments this election cycle is the number of U.S. Senate races that have become competitive, driven in part by Republicans being outraised by their opponents by sometimes wide margins.

本次选举周期最令人惊讶的事态发展之一是，美国参议院竞选的数量变得越来越激烈，部分原因是共和党人的支持率有时被对手以大幅优势压倒。

From July to September, the Democratic or independent candidate outraised their Republican opponent in 27 of the 35 Senate races on the ballot, posting a nearly 5-to-1 advantage in the 13 most competitive races.

从 7 月到 9 月，民主党或独立候选人在 35 场参议院竞选中的 27 场中击败了共和党对手，在 13 场竞争最激烈的竞选中以近 5 比 1 的优势。

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico's main campaign committee reported bringing in about $60 million in the third quarter, which the campaign says is a record for a Senate campaign in that period before the election.

得克萨斯州民主党参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的主要竞选委员会报告称，第三季度收入约为 6000 万美元，该竞选团队表示，这是选举前这一时期参议院竞选活动的记录。

That is also more than what any other Senate candidate has raised the entire cycle, except Democratic Sen.

这也比任何其他参议院候选人在整个周期中提出的数字都多，除了民主党参议员。

Jon Ossoff in Georgia.

佐治亚州的乔恩·奥索夫。

It's not just the longtime expensive toss-up races like Ohio, Texas and Michigan, either.

这不仅仅是像俄亥俄州、得克萨斯州和密歇根州这样长期昂贵的比赛。

In the last fundraising quarter, Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton raised nearly $10 million into his primary campaign committee, compared to just $800,000 for incumbent Republican Sen.

在上一个筹款季度，堪萨斯州民主党人亚当·汉密尔顿 (Adam Hamilton) 向他的初选竞选委员会筹集了近 1000 万美元，而现任共和党参议员亚当·汉密尔顿 (Adam Hamilton) 只筹集了 80 万美元。

Roger Marshall.

罗杰·马歇尔.

Mississippi Republican Sen.

密西西比州共和党参议员

Cindy Hyde Smith reported less than $700,000 in contributions, while both Republican Sens.

辛迪·海德·史密斯 (Cindy Hyde Smith) 报告的捐款不到 70 万美元，而两位共和党参议员。

Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Jim Risch of Idaho disclosed just under half a million dollars in third quarter receipts.

南达科他州的迈克·朗兹 (Mike Rounds) 和爱达荷州的吉姆·里施 (Jim Risch) 透露，第三季度的收入接近 50 万美元。

Their opponents reported roughly double the haul.

他们的对手报告说，他们的收获量大约是原来的两倍。

Democrats currently hold 47 Senate seats and have sought to use their fundraising edge, along with Republican unpopularity, to target races in states where Trump won as much as 60% of the vote.

民主党目前拥有 47 个参议院席位，并试图利用其筹款优势以及共和党的不受欢迎程度，瞄准特朗普赢得高达 60% 选票的州的竞选。

Next year's Congress is already set to have a record number of departures, and that's before you account for a number of incumbents who could lose in November.

明年的国会将有创纪录的离职人数，而这还不包括一些可能在 11 月份落选的现任议员。

The anti-incumbency vibe present throughout the primaries has continued with fundraising, with 50 sitting House members being outraised in the last quarter — about 90% of them Republicans.

整个初选过程中的反现任氛围在筹款活动中持续存在，上个季度有 50 名在任众议院议员的筹款金额超出预期，其中约 90% 是共和党人。

Of the 17 vulnerable lawmakers on the National Republican Congressional Committee's list of "NRCC Patriots," only one – Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick – reported raising more cash than his opponent.

在全国共和党国会委员会的“NRCC 爱国者”名单上的 17 名弱势议员中，只有一位—​​—宾夕法尼亚州共和党人布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克——报告筹集的现金比他的对手多。

Only three of the 27 challengers who are part of the "MAGA Majority" program — were the top fundraisers in their districts, too.

“MAGA Majority”计划的 27 名挑战者中，只有 3 名也是所在地区筹款最多的人。

On the Democratic side, the only vulnerable incumbent tagged as a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee "Frontliner" who was outraised last quarter was Nevada Rep.

在民主党方面，上个季度唯一被标记为民主党国会竞选委员会“前线”的弱势现任议员是内华达州众议员。

Dina Titus, while 40 of the 46 seats targeted as "Red to Blue" flips saw the Democratic candidate raise more money.

迪娜·提特斯 (Dina Titus) 表示，在“红蓝”翻转的 46 个席位中，有 40 个席位的民主党候选人筹集了更多资金。

That includes deep-red districts in Arkansas, Kentucky and Nevada that have seen a surge in ad spending from Republicans trying to protect those seats.

其中包括阿肯色州、肯塔基州和内华达州的深红色选区，共和党人试图保护这些席位，广告支出激增。

There are seven longer-shot "Districts In Play" that saw Democrats raise more money, including KS-02, MI-01, NE-02 and OH-10, all of which are in states with competitive Senate races.

有 7 个前景较远的“选区”，民主党筹集了更多资金，包括 KS-02、MI-01、NE-02 和 OH-10，所有这些选区都位于参议员竞选竞争激烈的州。

Several of the races expected to be the closest in November saw eye-popping fundraising totals from both candidates, like the more than $7 million combined raised last quarter in the NY-17 contest between Republican Rep.

预计 11 月份最接近的几场竞选中，两位候选人的筹款总额令人瞠目结舌，比如上个季度共和党众议员 NY-17 竞选中筹集的资金总额超过 700 万美元。

Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley.

迈克·劳勒和民主党人凯特·康利。

Conley's $5.4 million Q3 haul is the largest of any House campaign, and more than all but one incumbent U.S. Senator raised in the same time frame.

康利第三季度筹集的 540 万美元是所有众议院竞选活动中筹款金额最大的，比同一时期内除一位现任美国参议员之外的所有参议员筹集的资金还要多。

Last week's campaign filings also reveal a fuller picture of Musk's outsize role in funding the Republican effort to keep Congress, especially the Texas Senate race.In recent weeks, Musk donated $158 million to the Republican Senate Leadership Fund, $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, $89 million to his America PAC and $10 million to the pro-Ken Paxton Lone Star Liberty PAC.

上周的竞选文件还更全面地揭示了马斯克在为共和党保住国会，特别是得克萨斯州参议院竞选提供资金方面发挥的巨大作用。最近几周，马斯克向共和党参议院领导基金捐赠了1.58亿美元，向国会领导基金捐赠了2000万美元，向他的美国政治行动委员会捐赠了8900万美元，向亲肯·帕克斯顿孤星自由政治行动委员会捐赠了1000万美元。

The Senate Leadership Fund contribution was then used to solely fund the Texas PAC, which has already spent more than $148 million to boost Paxton and attack Talarico.

参议院领导基金的捐款随后专门用于资助德克萨斯州政治行动委员会，该组织已经花费了超过 1.48 亿美元来支持帕克斯顿并攻击塔拉里科。

To put the donation in perspective, Musk's contributions to the Texas PAC is more than the Talarico and Paxton campaigns have raised combined throughout the entire campaign cycle.

从正确的角度来看，马斯克对德克萨斯州政治行动委员会的捐款超过了塔拉里科和帕克斯顿竞选活动在整个竞选周期中筹集的资金总和。

It's roughly the amount spent on advertising for all 470 congressional races in the first week of September.

这大约相当于 9 月第一周所有 470 场国会竞选的广告费用。

For every dollar raised by a Senate campaign in the past three months, Musk spent about 56 cents just in Texas.

过去三个月参议院竞选筹集的每一美元，马斯克仅在德克萨斯州就花费了约 56 美分。

Still, advertising rules that give candidates more favorable rates mean the Musk money bomb does not go as far, especially in the broader deluge of advertising in Texas' expensive numerous media markets.

尽管如此，给予候选人更优惠价格的广告规则意味着马斯克的金钱炸弹不会走得太远，特别是在德克萨斯州昂贵的众多媒体市场上更广泛的广告泛滥中。

Outside/ad spending shows landscape is deep and wide

户外/广告支出显示前景广阔

Beyond the press release bluster and public proclamations about which races are competitive and the optimistic nature both parties put on about the money raised in key contests, the money spent tells the true story about where the landscape lies.

除了新闻稿中的夸夸其谈和公开宣布哪些比赛具有竞争力以及双方对关键比赛筹集的资金表现出乐观态度之外，所花费的资金还讲述了有关情况的真实故事。

From now until Election Day, at least $700 million in advertising reservations are planned, according to AdImpact, and the number is likely to rise in the final sprint.

AdImpact 称，从现在到选举日，计划至少投入 7 亿美元的广告预订，并且在最后冲刺中这一数字可能还会增加。

Three-quarters of that is for races that are either toss-ups or some degree of Republican-favored, according to the Cook Political Report.

根据库克政治报告，其中四分之三的竞选要么是难分胜负的，要么是某种程度共和党青睐的竞选。

Since Sept.

自九月以来

28, Republicans have more than quadrupled their ad spending in the Kansas Senate race, tripled the investment in Mississippi's Senate contest and in House seats in Missouri, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

2月28日，共和党人在堪萨斯州参议院竞选中的广告支出增加了四倍多，在密西西比州参议院竞选以及密苏里州、亚利桑那州、宾夕法尼亚州和肯塔基州众议院席位的投资增加了两倍。

At the same time, the party has also removed spending from Senate races in North Carolina and Georgia and onetime toss-up House seats in Iowa, Ohio and Nebraska that now favor Democrats.

与此同时，该党还取消了北卡罗来纳州和佐治亚州参议员竞选的支出，以及爱荷华州、俄亥俄州和内布拉斯加州曾经摇摇欲坠的众议院席位的支出，这些席位现在有利于民主党。

Democrats have launched a full-court press on the Senate side with millions of dollars in additional ad spending in the existing competitive races in Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Texas and Alaska, while adding Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and South Carolina to the mix.

民主党在参议院方面发起了全场媒体报道，在俄亥俄州、密歇根州、缅因州、德克萨斯州和阿拉斯加州的现有竞争性竞选中追加了数百万美元的广告支出，同时还将爱荷华州、堪萨斯州、密西西比州和南卡罗来纳州加入其中。

On the House side, many of the "Red to Blue" and "Districts In Play" designations have been followed by actual spending, like AR-02, MN-01, MT-01 and KY-06.

在众议院方面，许多“红到蓝”和“比赛中的选区”的指定都是在实际支出之后进行的，例如 AR-02、MN-01、MT-01 和 KY-06。

Oct.

十月

15 marked the last major quarterly campaign finance deadline, but large campaign contributions and outside expenditures will be reported with a one- or two-day turnaround all the way through Election Day.

15 号是最后一个重要的季度竞选财务截止日期，但大额竞选捐款和外部支出将在选举日之前一两天内进行报告。

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The 2026 midterms are on track to be the most expensive on record.

主持人米歇尔·马丁：2026 年中期选举有望成为有记录以来最昂贵的一次。

More than $15 billion have been raised to influence who will win control of Congress.

已经筹集了超过 150 亿美元来影响谁将赢得国会的控制权。

LEILA FADEL, HOST: That includes more than a quarter billion in new spending by the wealthiest person in the world - Elon Musk.

主持人莱拉·法德尔：这包括世界上最富有的人埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 超过 2.5 亿美元的新支出。

MARTIN: NPR's Stephen Fowler spent the weekend crunching the latest numbers, and he's with us now.

马丁：NPR 的斯蒂芬·福勒整个周末都在研究最新数据，现在他和我们在一起。

Hi, Stephen.

嗨，斯蒂芬。

STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Hey there.

斯蒂芬·福勒连线：嘿，你好。

MARTIN: So last week was the last major campaign finance deadline before Election Day.

马丁：上周是选举日之前最后一个主要竞选资金截止日期。

What are the biggest takeaways?

最大的收获是什么？

FOWLER: I've got two big things for you - Democratic dominance and a Republican super PAC tsunami.

福勒：我有两件大事要告诉你——民主党的主导地位和共和党超级政治行动委员会的海啸。

There's a ton of Democratic nominees in House and Senate races that are receiving just gobsmacking amounts of donations, but the Democratic Party - capital D, capital P - is unpopular.

在众议院和参议院竞选中，有大量民主党提名人收到的捐款数额惊人，但民主党——大写的 D、大写的 P——并不受欢迎。

You know who else is unpopular?

你知道还有谁不受欢迎吗？

Republicans right now, thanks to the war in Iran and rising gas prices, uncertainty about the economy.

共和党人现在，由于伊朗战争和天然气价格上涨，经济存在不确定性。

So you've got a few mega donors giving a few super PACs a lot of money to try and convince voters to elect Republicans anyway.

因此，有一些超级捐助者向一些超级政治行动委员会提供了大量资金，试图说服选民无论如何都选举共和党人。

MARTIN: So we mentioned Elon Musk already.

马丁：我们已经提到了埃隆·马斯克。

He gave hundreds of million dollars to President Trump's campaign in 2024.

他为特朗普总统 2024 年的竞选活动捐赠了数亿美元。

Where is he spending now?

他现在在哪里消费？

FOWLER: Well, in the last few months, he gave 10 million to a pro-Ken Paxton super PAC, 20 million to a Republican House super PAC, 89 million to his own America PAC and 158 million to the Republican Senate super PAC, which in turn used that for something called the Texas PAC, which has already spent almost all of that to boost Paxton and attack the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.

福勒：嗯，在过去的几个月里，他向亲肯·帕克斯顿的超级政治行动委员会捐赠了 1000 万美元，向共和党众议院超级政治行动委员会捐赠了 2000 万美元，向他自己的美国政治行动委员会捐赠了 8900 万美元，向共和党参议院超级政治行动委员会捐赠了 1.58 亿美元，而后者又将这些资金用于所谓的德克萨斯州政治行动委员会，而德克萨斯州政治行动委员会已经用了几乎所有这些来支持帕克斯顿并攻击民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科。

MARTIN: You know, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around those numbers.

马丁：你知道，我很难理解这些数字。

So can you help me put that last one - 158 million - in - into some context?

那么你能帮我把最后一个数字——1.58 亿——放到某种背景下吗？

FOWLER: Well, that 158 million is more than the Talarico and Paxton campaigns have raised this cycle combined.

福勒：嗯，这 1.58 亿美元比 Talarico 和 Paxton 竞选活动在本周期筹集的资金总和还多。

And it could have funded the amount spent on every House and every Senate race's ads everywhere in the country for the entire first week of September.

它本可以为整个 9 月第一周全国各地各众议院和每次参议院竞选广告提供资金。

But as far as campaigns go, Democratic Senate candidates have been blowing the doors off their Republican opponents, led by Talarico reporting $60-plus million dollars from July to the end of September.

但就竞选活动而言，以塔拉里科为首的民主党参议院候选人从 7 月到 9 月底的竞选金额已超过 6000 万美元。

I mean, in the last quarter, the Democrat or independent in these races outraised the Republican in about 4 out of every 5 races.

我的意思是，在上个季度，这些竞选中的民主党人或无党派人士在每 5 场比赛中大约有 4 场击败了共和党人。

MARTIN: But some of those races aren't very competitive, so talk about the Republican fundraising in toss-up races.

马丁：但其中一些竞选竞争并不激烈，所以谈谈共和党在势均力敌的竞选中筹款吧。

FOWLER: If you zero in on just the 13 races the Cook Political Report rates as competitive, Republicans are being outraised by a 5-to-1 margin.

福勒：如果你只将库克政治报告评为具有竞争力的 13 场比赛归零，那么共和党的领先优势是 5 比 1。

And it's not just that Democrats are raising a ton of money.

不仅仅是民主党筹集了大量资金。

You also have Republicans that aren't raising money, too, like the incumbent Republican senators in Kansas, South Dakota, Idaho, Mississippi.

还有一些共和党人也不筹集资金，例如堪萨斯州、南达科他州、爱达荷州、密西西比州的现任共和党参议员。

All of them raised less than $1 million each last quarter.

他们上个季度每个季度筹集的资金都不到 100 万美元。

MARTIN: And what about the House?

马丁：那么众议院呢？

FOWLER: Oof.

福勒：噢。

There are so many other numbers I could throw at you.

我还有很多其他的数字可以告诉你。

And I won't this time.

这次我不会。

So I'll have this for you.

所以我会给你这个。

Both parties have a list of vulnerable incumbents they would like to keep in office.

两党都有一份他们希望继续留任的弱势现任者名单。

One Democrat on that list was outraised and only one Republican was not.

该名单上的一名民主党人受到了批评，只有一名共和党人没有受到批评。

I mean, Democrats also reported raising more in 40 flip targets, even in a handful of super conservative districts considered a reach.

我的意思是，民主党还报告称在 40 个翻转目标中提高了更多目标，即使是在少数被认为可以实现的超级保守选区。

MARTIN: So the thing about all that money is that it doesn't just stay in the bank, OK?

马丁：所以所有这些钱的问题在于它不仅仅留在银行，好吗？

What should we know about spending?

关于支出我们应该了解什么？

FOWLER: Well, it doesn't do any good if it just stays in the bank.

福勒：嗯，如果它只是留在银行里的话，没有任何好处。

So both parties are spending money like there's no tomorrow and like they think Democrats could win big in a lot of places.

因此，两党都在花钱，就像没有明天一样，而且他们认为民主党可以在很多地方赢得巨大胜利。

Three-fourths of the planned ad buys from now until Election Day are in races that, in theory, favor Republicans or are toss-ups.

从现在到选举日，四分之三的计划广告购买都用于理论上有利于共和党或难以预测的竞选。

We don't know the answer to the billion-dollar question of, will it work?

我们不知道这个价值数十亿美元的问题的答案：它会起作用吗？

But time's running out to make a difference.

但改变现状的时间已经不多了。

MARTIN: Well, yeah.

马丁：嗯，是的。

That is the question.

这就是问题所在。

Does it work, or does it just cancel itself all out?

它有效吗，还是完全消失了？

All right.

好的。

That's NPR's Stephen Fowler.

那是 NPR 的斯蒂芬·福勒。

Stephen, thank you.

斯蒂芬，谢谢你。

FOWLER: Thank you.

福勒：谢谢。

Topics

主题