Follow the money: House edition
In House races, money talks.
With so many races in the battleground this year, there's a lot to be gleaned from where the flood of money on both sides of the aisle is going.
The NBC News political unit broke down the top 10 congressional races where the most outside money has been spent since the start of October, a list that includes many of the marquee races around the country. These expenditures were culled from the Federal Election Commission's list of Independent Expenditures, spending made in a race without consultation with any candidates.
Democrats have the recent outside-spending edge in seven of the 10 districts, as well as an overall lead in these districts combined that's driven largely by the spending disparity in California's 45th Congressional district.
While we normally break down the races that draw the most television advertising dollars, these numbers are different for a few important reasons.
First, these figures include all outside spending, including canvassing, polling, digital advertising and other important campaign work that goes outside of conventional advertising.
And these FEC filings only include money that was actually spent this month, and do not capture expenditures that were paid for earlier in the cycle, like ad buys. That means this spending is a real-time reflection of how groups are prioritizing the battlefield with recent spending decisions.
Here's a breakdown of those races, along with the amount of money spent on behalf of each side from Oct. 1 to Oct. 22.
CA-45: Republican Rep. Mimi Walters vs. Democrat Katie Porter
- Pro-Republican spending: $1.6 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $4.3 million
FL-26: Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo vs. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
- Pro-Republican spending: $2.32 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.63 million
CA-25: Republican Rep. Steve Knight vs. Democrat Katie Hill
- Pro-Republican spending: $2.3 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.2 million
CO-06: Republican Rep. Mike Coffman vs. Democrat Jason Crow
- Pro-Republican candidate: $2.2 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.3 million
WA-08: Republican Dino Rossi vs. Democrat Kim Schrier
- Pro-Republican spending: $1.6 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.8 million
VA-07: Republican Rep. Dave Brat vs. Democrat Abigail Spanberger
- Pro-Republican spending: $2.1 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.2 million
NY-22: Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney vs. Democrat Anthony Brindisi
- Pro-Republican spending $1.7 million
- Pro-Democratic spending $2.5 million
NY-19: Republican Rep. John Faso vs. Democrat Antonio Delgado
- Pro-Republican spending: $2.5 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $1.7 million
CA-10: Republican Rep. Jeff Denham vs. Democrat Josh Harder
- Pro-Republican spending: $1.8 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $2.3 million
MN-01: Republican Jim Hagedorn vs. Democrat Dan Feehan
- Pro-Republican spending: $2.3 million
- Pro-Democratic spending: $1.8 million