Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi raised $91 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) through July in an effort to help her party snag the 23 House seats needed to gain control in the upcoming midterm elections.
The first $83 million were amassed by June, according to internal documents obtained by CNN, but despite being a fundraising giant — raising more than double the funds of any other Democrat — she remains unpopular within her party. As many as 60 Democrats have pledged they will not vote for her as speaker if the GOP-led House were flipped come November, according to a report by The New York Times, but Pelosi may use her large fundraising contributions as leverage to gain a new leadership position.
Many Democrats, even those trying to wrangle GOP-controlled states away from Republicans, have consistently called for a wave of new leadership after the midterm elections.
Democrats scrambling for a leadership position to succeed Pelosi include Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, a prospective candidate for vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus in 2019 and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, chairman of the DCCC. Both significantly surpassed their fundraising goals through June, with Clark raising $1.1 million and transferring an additional $300,000 to the DCCC, according to CNN. Lujan was the second highest fundraiser after Pelosi, raising $2 million for candidates who face an uphill battle in certain states. (RELATED: Democrats Out-Raised GOP Midterm Candidates, But Will It Be Enough To Retake The House?)
A record-breaking 73 Democratic candidates up for election this midterm season have out-raised GOP candidates in 20 of the 42 districts during the second quarter that are hotly contested in the House race, according to Bloomberg.
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