Senate Republicans have a wealth problem

David McCormick, the Republican candidate running against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, was candid when he spoke to students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire last month.

“I spend half my time with my donors,” McCormick told students at the Tuck School of Business, according to audio obtained by a progressive news site. heartland signaladding, “I'm all over the country, but mostly with really wealthy people.''

Of course, McCormick himself is one of those millionaires. McCormick, a former Bush administration official and CEO of Bridgewater Associates, and his wife, Dina Powell, a former Trump administration official and partner at Goldman Sachs, according to Senate financial disclosures. Their combined net worth is shown to be between $95 million and $196 million.

That wealth makes Mr. McCormick emblematic of the type of candidate Republicans are relying on to regain control of the Senate in 2024. The Republican Party's deliberate strategy to hire wealthy voters is aimed at bridging the persistent funding gap between Democrats and Republicans. The number of candidates for the Senate has increased since the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans are counting on them to finance their campaigns with their own pocket money or rely on their extensive fundraising networks.

McCormick is joined by Tim Sheehy, owner of an aerial firefighting company in Montana. Bernie Moreno is an Ohio car dealer and blockchain executive. Eric Hovde, a Wisconsin banker; And even the Mountain State's richest man, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.

There are plenty of signs that it's working — McCormick raised $5.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, while Casey raised just $3.6 million. The super PAC supporting his candidacy has raised a whopping $18 million. Many of them came from Mr. McCormick's fellow Wall Street executives.. But as Republican candidates are discovering, this strategy comes with real risks. Wealthy people often have a lot of baggage under attack by Democrats, including out-of-state homes, wealthy friends and long-standing business records.

In Mr. McCormick's case, that means attacking the $16 million mansion he rents in Connecticut.his economic ties To Saudi Arabia and China.his history of outsourcing and fire a worker -It's all part of an effort to portray him as an out-of-the-box billionaire.

“Republican Senate candidates have enough baggage to fill a bank vault,” said Tommy Garcia, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Their financial weakness, combined with a host of other flaws and disqualifying policy positions, will likely lead to their campaign defeat.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee declined to comment. But Republican strategists said the tradeoff for the additional vulnerability that comes with running a self-funded candidate is worth it.

“A few negative stories are now 100% worth extra points on TV in October,” said one veteran Republican Senate campaign strategist, who requested anonymity to candidly discuss the party's strategy. Ta. “In recent years, Republican candidates have been getting killed in fundraising.”

Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, but are on the defensive in 2024. The retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-Virginia) already virtually guarantees Republicans will pick up at least one seat, and the party is defending seats in red Montana and Ohio, hotly contested states. The states are Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

For example, in two key states, Republicans have already raised about the same amount as the party's 2018 candidates raised throughout the campaign. Casey's opponent at the time, Rep. Lou Barletta, raised just $7.4 million during the campaign. McCormick only formally announced his candidacy in September, but has already raised nearly $5.5 million, including a $1 million loan from the candidate himself.

In Montana, Rep. Matt Rosendale raised just under $6 million overall in his 2018 campaign against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Meanwhile, Mr. Sheehy's campaign has already raised $5.3 million, including $950,000 in loans from candidates.

Casey and Tester's fundraising also improved due to their incumbency and the six years needed to raise the funds. Tester has $25.1 million in the bank so far this cycle, compared to the $21.2 million it all raised in the previous cycle. Mr. Casey raised $18.1 million this time, compared to $21.7 million during the 2018 campaign.

Democrats hope Mr. McCormick's economic advantage will be undermined by the weaknesses his wealth brings. Casey and his allies have been particularly interested in linking Mr. McCormick to the governments of China and Saudi Arabia, where Mr. McCormick conducted a wide range of transactions while leading the giant asset management firm Bridgewater Associates. It was an authoritarian regime. (Mr. McCormick has been a strong critic of China since the start of his last campaign.)

““David McCormick's history of selling off Pennsylvanians to enrich his own profits has landed him entangled with foreign governments like China and Saudi Arabia, and at the mercy of his billionaire supporters,” said a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Tanisha Cameron said. “His history of prioritizing the ultra-rich and big corporations at the expense of working families is unpopular with Pennsylvania voters.”

McCormick's campaign did not respond to requests for comment. The campaign seeks to highlight his roots in Pennsylvania — he was born in a suburb of Pittsburgh and attended high school in Bloomsburg. He highlighted issues of concern to the state's conservative and working-class “T” voters (areas of the state outside the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas), such as border security and combating the fentanyl epidemic. I've been doing it.

“I spend half of my time in Pennsylvania, where the median income is $55,000 to $60,000,” he told Dartmouth students.

Democrats' attack plans on other wealthy Republican candidates are similar.With Sheehy, they will be looking at what happened to his family. provided money How his small government rhetoric contradicts himself to help get his business off the ground his company relies on federal funds, And his roots lie outside of Montana.

For Bernie Moreno, who has spent nearly $4 million on his campaign and is the front-runner to challenge U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Democrats are plowing his bet between $25.5 million and $105.5 million. He said he wants to focus on property traps. Until financial information disclosure. Moreno owns a $2.3 million Aston Martin, a home in the Bahamas worth at least $5 million and a yacht worth at least $1 million.

Republicans, on the other hand, think they have the perfect counterattack to all these attacks. At least our candidate is not a career politician. They plan to highlight the candidates' military and business backgrounds, which they hope will contrast with the decades-long political careers of candidates like Tester, Brown and Casey.

Mr. Hovde's campaign launch on Tuesday signaled a likely ups and downs. Mr. Hovde, the first major challenger to Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), runs a real estate company in Madison and a bank in California. He also spent $5.6 million of his own money in his unsuccessful 2012 Senate race.

“Hovde is an unconventional hedge fund manager who has built a career catering to millionaires and billionaires,” said Hannah Menhoff, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority PAC, the main super PAC supporting Senate Democrats. ” he declared.

“Eric Hovde's experience as a job creator, not just a career politician, makes him a strong candidate to flip the Wisconsin Senate seat this year,” said NRSC Chairman Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). “I am,” he argued.

Fix: A previous version of this article incorrectly classified Bloomsburg as a suburb of Pittsburgh. A town in eastern Pennsylvania.