Senate Leadership Fund raised $37.6 million in September. Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam together donated $25 million to the group. | Sebastian Scheiner, File/AP Photo Elections Super PACs see bipartisan fundraising boom ahead of midterms

The super PACs wrestling for the House and Senate majorities this fall are dramatically outpacing their fundraising in other recent cycles, new Federal Election Commission disclosures show, as big-money political spending continues to fuel heated battles for the House and Senate.

The fundraising boom is bipartisan: House Majority PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund, Senate Majority PAC and Senate Leadership Fund had raised more than $400 million combined as of Oct. 1.


While Senate Leadership Fund, which is aligned with Senate Republicans, was only formed for the 2016 cycle, the other three super PACs have seen their fundraising rise significantly over their 2014 midterms levels, as post-Citizens United super PAC spending on politics grows. Congressional Leadership Fund, which raises and spends money to help the GOP majority in the House, has swelled from an organization that raised $12.6 million overall during the 2014 midterms to one that raised $126.5 million as of Oct. 1 of this year.

While none of the three groups had raised more than $100 million by October during other recent election cycles, two of the three — Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Majority PAC — had surpassed the $100 million mark by October of this year. Senate Leadership Fund raised $99.6 million by that point this year.

On Saturday, the Democratic House Majority PAC disclosed raising $14.9 million during the month of September, bringing its overall fundraising for the cycle to $66 million. Senate Majority PAC, meanwhile, raised $17.7 million, which brought its total fundraising for the cycle to $113 million.

The fight over the House and the Senate has energized political donors. Democrats have been enraged by President Donald Trump and spurred to give both small and large donations to candidates and super PACs. Republicans, aiming to protect their unified control of Washington, are responding in kind.

Senate Leadership Fund raised $37.6 million during September. Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, together donated $25 million to the group. Senate Leadership Fund also reported receiving a $6.8 million transfer from One Nation, an affiliated political nonprofit group, and $1 million from Texas investor Andy Beal.

Adelson has charged ahead of other Republican donors to become far and away the biggest funder of the midterms in his party this year, having now donated at least $115 million to GOP causes. He and his wife also gave $10 million each to Congressional Leadership Fund, recent disclosures revealed.

Notable Democratic megadonors to the Democrats during the months of September included hedge fund magnate James Simons, who gave $2.7 million to House Majority PAC and $2 million to its counterpart, Senate Majority PAC; Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who donated $1 million to Senate Majority PAC; and Indiana sisters Deborah Simon and Cynthia Simon-Skjodt, who each donated $1 million to House Majority PAC. Hollywood mogul David Geffen gave $500,000 each to House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC.