Democrats lost big-money game in midterm elections
Originally published November 9, 2014 at 8:46 PM | Page modified November 10, 2014 at 6:50 AM
WASHINGTON
Facing tough midterm elections, Democrats put aside some of their remaining scruples about the new age of unlimited campaign spending and courted unions and hedge-fund billionaires for big checks to try to salvage a Senate majority.
They spent a lot of money. But not enough.
This year, in a reversal of 2012, the big-money Democratic donors watched their investments return little on election night Tuesday. Although Republicans outspent them overall, Democrats got beaten even in states like Colorado and North Carolina where they spent the same or even a little more than Republicans.
We just saw a national tsunami, said Ty Matsdorf, an adviser to the Senate Majority PAC, which spent about $50 million across the country in a mostly futile effort to keep Democrats in office.
I dont think theres anything more we should have done, Matsdorf said. Heres the truth: Everybody knew this was going to be a hard cycle. Everyone knew we were going to face extremely strong head winds.
Republican donors credited their success to a number of adjustments they had made since the last election cycle: more say in choosing electable candidates, investment in get-out-the-vote efforts that had been a Democratic advantage, and a late spending push.
The spending in the 2014 midterms showed how the remaining restrictions on campaign spending continue to weaken. More money moved into super PACs and dark-money nonprofits, where donations are unlimited, and away from candidate accounts that are still subject to strict limits on individual giving and disclosure.
Overall, including spending by candidates and outside groups, Republicans spent about $1.75 billion to Democrats $1.64 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group.
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Democrats lost big-money game in midterm elections