senate republicans fighting to keep control of the chamber in the face of donald trump <u+2019>s dip in the presidential polls are facing a new hurdle: an influx of last-minute cash for their democratic opponents. in the two weeks leading up to election day, democratic outside groups are set to spend substantially more money on tv advertising than their republican counterparts in eight of 10 key senate races, sending republicans scrambling to narrow the gap. the gop holds a spending advantage only in ohio and florida, two states where democrats have all but conceded losses to republican incumbent sens. rob portman and marco rubio. yet those two prospective setbacks have cleared the way for pro-democratic outside groups to shift their cash to other competitive races. in indiana, missouri, nevada, new hampshire, north carolina and pennsylvania, ad reservations show democrats have committed at least $1 million more than republicans. in pennsylvania, democrats are set to spend $15 million from oct. 17 through election day, compared with republicans<u+2019> $9 million, according to a media tracker. in new hampshire, democrats are investing $17 million compared with republicans<u+2019> $11 million. <u+201c>there absolutely is a push to get some more money in, and i personally have made a bunch of calls in the last few days to try and make that happen,<u+201d> said mel immergut, a venture capitalist and a major gop donor focused on several senate races. the democratic advantage is particularly notable in a year when republican fundraisers, who typically focus their resources on presidential contests, have shied from mr. trump. gop strategists thought the money sidelined in the white house race would trickle down to congressional contests. yet, beyond a few large checks cut by donors such as casino billionaire sheldon adelson, that enthusiasm hasn<u+2019>t materialized. steven law, the head of senate leadership fund, the primary gop super pac defending senate republicans, said he actually believes the opposite has occurred. <u+201c>democratic donors have come to the conclusion that they can turn their attention from the top of the ticket to down-ticket races,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>so that<u+2019>s created this late surge of spending by not just individual donors and the party committee, but just an armada of different liberal democratic groups jumping in.<u+201d> while the senate democratic campaign arm and an affiliated super pac, senate majority pac, have led the charge, labor, environmental and women<u+2019>s groups have also been working in concert to help blanket airwaves. the league of conservation voters<u+2019> super pac, for example, is set to spend $15 million across four senate races. priorities usa, the main outside group backing democrat hillary clinton <u+2019>s presidential bid, announced this week it would shift some of its resources in new hampshire and pennsylvania to help challengers maggie hassan and katie mcginty. priorities is now considering doing the same in north carolina and nevada, where it has existing ad reservations in place, which it could use by swapping presidential ads with senate spots. <u+201c>donald trump isn<u+2019>t just driving voters away from him and republicans down the ballot in droves; his candidacy is energizing women to come out and support democratic women who will fight back against trump<u+2019>s divisive, misogynistic, offensive agenda,<u+201d> said rachel thomas, spokeswoman for emily<u+2019>s list, a group that supports pro-abortion rights democratic female candidates. by contrast, republican senate candidates are mainly relying on help from the national republican senatorial committee and a super pac, the senate leadership fund. senate leadership fund, along with its sister nonprofit one nation, which doesn't disclose its donors, together brought in $20 million in september. mr. law said he expects the groups<u+2019> total spending this cycle will increase 50% over their 2014 spending totals. the u.s. chamber of commerce, which is also working to re-elect a republican senate majority, made its investments early, spending $24 million on races, including primaries. the group is now set to spend about $1 million more in the campaign<u+2019>s final stretch, according to a person familiar with its plans. freedom partners, an organization aligned with conservative billionaires david and charles koch, announced in september that it was pulling all of its october advertising in favor of investing in on-the-ground field efforts. republicans in the house appear to be grappling with the same dynamic. <u+201c>as things currently stand, republicans are going to be outspent by a wide margin in the final weeks of the campaign,<u+201d> national republican congressional committee executive director rob sims wrote to house republicans in an internal memo. <u+201c>energized donors and union allies have poured tens of millions of dollars into democrat-aligned groups over the past several weeks and those resources are being deployed in over 30 districts across the country,<u+201d> he added. still, democrats caution that the current dynamic could quickly shift. the nrsc closed september with one of its best monthly fundraising hauls, raking in $15 million and taking out an additional $15 million loan. and the gop-friendly senate leadership fund relies on a small network of wealthy donors who could easily infuse the group<u+2019>s coffers with large checks. write to michelle hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com
senate republicans find trump<u+2019>s slide in polls buoys democratic challengers  - wsj
michelle hackman