The national Republican party has a message for House incumbents who think their lagging fundraising efforts will get bailed out with hordes of cash by a Super PAC ahead of the midterms — think again.
Though the party itself is flush with cash, there's only so much to go around when headwinds are afflicting nearly every House race and 43 Republican incumbents have been outraised by their Democratic challengers so far in 2018, Politico reports.
"Over the years, too many members have gotten increasingly reliant on third parties and outside groups to save them, and less dependent on themselves, and that's a problem," Republican strategist Chris LaCivita told Politico.
Some incumbents "still haven't gotten the memo," LaCivita told Politico — members need to raise their own money.
"Key decisions are being made right now on where money will be spent this cycle, and I'd be pretty worried if I were one of these members," a Republican strategist told Politico. "Some people just can't be saved."
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) raised $66 million in 2017 — and another $15 million in Q1 of 2018 — but distributing funds to incumbents who aren't pulling their own weight in fundraising weak-legs the national party's efforts somewhere else.
"The members who are getting outraised at this stage of the election cycle are the ones who present the biggest risk to the Republican majority," Republican consultant Ken Spain told Politico.
Sixteen of the 43 House Republican incumbents who have been outraised by Democrats also have less cash on hand than their challengers, including Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Steve King, as well as North Carolina Republicans Robert Pittenger and Ted Budd.
"It's inexcusable for an incumbent to be outraised," Corry Bliss, executive director of the CLF, told Politico.
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