Missouri’s incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill outraised Republican challenger Josh Hawley by a roughly 4-to-1 margin in the latest required filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In contributions for the entire election cycle for the hotly contested race, McCaskill has taken in $27.6 million versus about $7.4 million for Hawley. In her filing late Monday afternoon, McCaskill reported total receipts of just below $31 million compared to Hawley’s $8.5 million.
McCaskill also far outraised Hawley in contributions for the latest reporting period from mid-July through the end of September. The two-term Senator took in $7.1 million versus $2.6 million for Hawley.
Because McCaskill has also vastly outspent Hawley, the challenger has several hundred thousand dollars more cash-on-hand – $3.5 million compared to $3.2 million.
McCaskill has spent $11.2 million over the last two-and-a-half month reporting period while Hawley has paid out roughly $2 million, a greater than 5-to-1 margin. Over the course of the campaign, McCaskill has similarly dwarfed Hawley’s expenditures – $28 million-to-$5 million.
The Center for Responsive Politics, which reports outside money, has tagged Missouri’s total at nearly $48 million for the Senate race, with a roughly even split for both sides.
The overwhelming majority of outside money is spent against rather than for candidates because the groups, Political Action Committees, can spend unlimited sums as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate or political party.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Missouri Senate race leads all contests in outside money, followed by Senate races in Florida, Indiana, Nevada and Arizona. Besides Missouri, only the Florida race has topped the $40 million mark in outside money at $42.5 million.
McCaskill estimated there would be $70-80 million in outside money spent on the Missouri contest. Such groups could see a reason to keep money flowing into the race, which polls have shown to be in a statistical tie with three weeks left until the November election.
The next deadline for candidates to file with the Federal Election Commission is next Thursday, October 25th.
