National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Steve Daines, R-Mont., said Thursday that he is not worried about the Democrat fundraising advantage in all of the major Senate races this year and predicted Republicans will make a net gain of at least two seats to take a majority of 51 in the Senate.
"We will never outraise the Democrats," Daines told Newsmax, "When you go into a race as a Republican, you accept the fact that Democrats are always going to raise more money than we do."
Daines pointed to his own reelection race in 2020, in which he was vastly outraised by two-term Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock. According to Open Secrets, Bullock spent $48,737,896 to Daines' $32,792,199.
"I was crushed in hard dollars that just flowed in [and] in a state with only 1.1 million people and 3 cows per person," said Daines, adding that he was reelected with nearly 55% of the vote.
In most of the competitive Senate races this year, Democrats hold fundraising advantages over their Republican opponents. In Ohio, for example, Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown collected a whopping $12 million in the first quarter of 2024. Republican opponent Bernie Moreno, who had $2.39 million cash on hand, has not yet released his fundraising numbers for the first quarter of this year.
In Pennsylvania, Democrat Sen. Bob Casey recently announced he had raised more than $5.6 million in the first quarter. Republican challenger David McCormick reported raising $6.2 million during the same period, but $1 million of that amount was a loan from the candidate himself.
Turning to the lone Republican senator thought to be in danger this year, Daines said he had no doubt Ted Cruz will be outraised in Texas "because he's Ted Cruz. The race is nationalized and a lot of money will be poured in. It's not unlike Kentucky, the money flowed in to defeat [Senate GOP Leader] Mitch McConnell because he's a national figure. And a huge amount of money came into South Carolina to defeat [GOP Sen.] Lindsey Graham. It didn't make a big amount of difference in South Carolina or Kentucky, and I don't think it will make a big difference in Texas."
Of Cruz, Daines said: "Ted is taking his race very seriously and working very hard. There's a recent poll that came out showing Ted with a double-digit lead [a just-completed University of Texas and Texas Politics Project poll among likely voters statewide showed Cruz beating Democrat Rep. Colin Allred by 46% to 33%].
Daines spoke at a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.