In the money game for Congress, many candidates in hotly contested races in New York have received significant support from major fundraisers like House Speaker Mike Johnson and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Republicans, in particular, use joint fundraising committees to transfer large sums of cash from wealthy donors to swing districts across the state.
Community Chest Committees aren’t new, but they’re gaining traction this season. some presidential candidates Leveraging them, big fundraisers hope they will help them take control of the House. Unlike candidate committees and traditional political action committees, community fundraising committees can raise money for multiple candidates or their PACs and disperse the funds accordingly. They have since grown in popularity, as reported by NBC. 2014 Supreme Court decision It removed limits on total contributions for candidates, allowing wealthy donors to donate to as many candidates as they wanted. Previously, individuals could not contribute more than approximately $50,000 per election cycle, combined for all candidates to whom they contributed.
Individual donation limits still apply, but community chest committees allow wealthy donors to write large checks to one committee, and that committee is within legal limits. and is responsible for allocating the funds to other candidates and other committees. For example, if a joint fundraising committee is raising cash for her two candidates, she can receive up to $13,200 from one donor, but she can only donate $6,600 to each candidate. USD (personal cycle limit) only.
On the Republican side, both Mr. Johnson and Mr. McCarthy have set up committees that can accept six-figure donations depending on the number of candidates allowed to raise money. McCarthy’s committee, Protect the House 2024, includes more than 20 candidates from around the country, including Reps. Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito, Brandon Williams and Mark Molinaro. Associated Protect the House New York also includes Reps. Nick Larota, Andrew Garbarino, and Nicole Malliotakis. Mr. Johnson’s “Grow the Majority” and its related “Grow the Majority New York” campaign are for more than 30 candidates, all fellow New Yorkers, including Reps. Elise Stefanik and Claudia Tenney. We are collecting funds. It’s also a fundraiser for another joint fundraising committee for potential Republican candidates in the 18th Congressional District, currently held by Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan.
Since the start of the election cycle, Mr. Lawler has received more than $373,000 in transfers from Mr. McCarthy’s committee and about $22,000 from Mr. Johnson’s committee. That’s out of the roughly $3.3 million he has raised so far for his re-election campaign. Mr. Molinaro received about $400,000 from Mr. McCarthy’s committee and more than $34,000 from Mr. Johnson’s committee. Mr. Molinaro has brought in a total of $2.2 million since the start of the cycle. Larota received $107,000 from Mr. McCarthy’s “Protect the House New York” and just under $41,000 from Mr. Johnson’s “Grow the Majority” and “Grow the Majority New York.” Ta. This is part of a total of $1.6 million that LaRota has raised since the beginning of last year. Mr. D’Esposito received more than $385,000 from Mr. McCarthy’s committee and more than $33,000 from Mr. Johnson’s committee. D’Esposito brought in a total of $2 million.
Rep. Pat Ryan, this year’s leading Democratic incumbent the party is trying to protect, has received more than $41,000 from the Democratic Future Leadership Fund, which raises money for about a dozen Democrats across the country. are receiving. Ryan is the only New Yorker on that list.
Many of these candidates also raise money in their own community fundraising committees and send large sums of money to their main campaign accounts. Democrats have done this, too, but Republicans are making more use of the practice this cycle. Incumbents, or in the case of Democrat Mondale Jones, former legislators seeking seats, use community chests to raise money for their main campaign committees as well as leadership PACs and federal or local party committees. Committees are often established. Unlike national fundraisers such as Save the Home and Grow the Majority, each candidate’s team typically runs a community fundraising committee in which potential donors individually send multiple checks. rather than writing one check to multiple committees related to a candidate.
