Sen. John Cornyn is privately pitching his fundraising prowess as his under-the-radar campaign against Sen. John Thune to be the next GOP leader in the chamber quietly takes shape behind the scenes.
Cornyn, a former Senate GOP campaign chairman who hails from donor-rich Texas and has spent years building his political operation, is using his fundraising apparatus to send out checks to incumbent senators running for reelection and GOP Senate nominees in key states.
In the first quarter of 2024, Cornyn raised $5.6 million through his joint fundraising arm, called the Cornyn Victory Committee, and to the National Republican Senatorial Committee as well as directly for GOP incumbents and candidates, according to a source familiar with his political operation. The source said the numbers, which are not yet public, total $17.2 million that Cornyn raised for Senate Republican incumbents and candidates this cycle.
The money, which amounts to the most Cornyn has raised in a single quarter since his joint fundraising committee was established in 2021, increased after Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced on February 28 that he would not run for leader in the next Congress, ending what will be an 18-year tenure atop the Senate GOP, the longest of any party leader in history. Cornyn raised $2.8 million since the start of the leadership race that began in earnest after McConnell made his announcement, the source said.
The jockeying over fundraising and the candidates’ ties with high-dollar donors are among several key factors that senators say they are considering as they weigh whom to support for the high-stakes race, which will take place after the November elections.
The next leader will have to chart out the GOP’s legislative and political strategy; take the helm of McConnell’s high-spending super PAC, known as…
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