Democrats are shattering records and raising massive sums of cash as they gear up for the 2026 midterms, with eyes on flipping both the House and the Senate.
Not only are individual candidates announcing whopping figures for the first quarter of the year, but small-dollar donations have skyrocketed in a warning to Republicans in power that Americans are fed up enough to donate despite the high cost of living.
After Donald Trump and the GOP swept into power in the 2024 elections, Democrats appeared lost in the wilderness, but fundraising indicates people are ready to back the opposition.
ActBlue, the platform used by Democratic candidates and causes, announced that it raised $568 million from January through March, the strongest first quarter fundraising in its history, just one more sign of a potential blue wave this fall. The average donation was just $38.
It included $391 million for federal campaigns ahead of the midterms and $119 million for state and local candidates.
It comes as some Democratic candidates are raking in massive campaign war chests while their Republican rivals remain locked in expensive, messy primaries.
On Tuesday, Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico announced his campaign raised an astronomical $27 million in the first three months of the year, the most that any Senate candidate has ever raised in the first quarter.
Since the campaign’s launch, Talarico has raked in more than $40 million, and 97 percent of contributions were $100 or less, according to his campaign.
It comes as Republican Sen. John Cornyn is locked in an ugly runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after the most expensive Senate primary ever. That race won’t be decided until May 26. Trump failed to endorse despite promising to do so, and neither candidate has bowed out of the race.
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff announced his campaign raised $14 million in the first three months of the year, with 98 percent of the contributions at $100 or less.
He’s running for reelection in one of the most competitive Senate races in a state Trump won, but Republicans are tied up in a messy three-way Senate primary, which won’t be decided until at least May 19.
Even in Alaska, Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola broke the record for the most money ever raised by a Senate candidate in the state in the first quarter of the year, when she hauled in nearly $9 million from January through March.
Breaking fundraising records is by no means an indicator that a candidate will win. Some candidates who raised record sums in previous cycles lost by double digits, but it shows where the enthusiasm lies at this stage in the season.
What remains to be seen is where the president will spend his own political war chest to help hold onto the House and Senate.
At the end of March, the president’s MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting Trump, had a massive $312 million cash on hand at its disposal, a record amount for a lame-duck president. However, the PAC is almost entirely supported by mega donors, not the grassroots contributors that first fueled Trump’s political rise.
In an interview with Fox Business this week, Trump insisted he believes Republicans will do “good” in the midterms, but he also set an expectation that Republicans will lose seats, claiming that when a president wins an election, the party always loses in the midterms, but he and GOP leaders are hoping to turn that around.
