Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan called the Democrats’ numbers “unprecedented.” | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Elections DCCC chair: 60 Dem House candidates raised over $1 million in third quarter

Sixty House Democratic candidates broke the $1 million mark in fundraising from July through September, a whopping total fueling the party's campaign to retake the House in November.

Thirty of those candidates exceeded $2 million raised last quarter, while eight of them brought in more than $3 million over that period. Three of those $3 million candidates have already announced their third-quarter fundraising: Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot who’s challenging Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.); Josh Harder, a venture capitalist challenging Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.); and Andrew Janz, an attorney running against Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).


Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan previewed the fundraising numbers at a Bloomberg breakfast event with reporters on Thursday, calling the Democrats’ numbers “unprecedented.”

“The fundraising success we’re seeing with our candidates – especially with the unlimited amounts of money coming from the outside – puts them in the strongest places they can [be in] as we put our entire strategy together to make sure they can win these seats across the country,” Lujan told reporters.

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In the third quarter of 2016, only 21 House candidates from both parties raised over $1 million — including the speaker of the House, six self-funders and another six incumbent Republicans. Only eight non-incumbent Democrats cleared the $1 million mark without self-funding at this point in the last election.

House Democrats’ widespread fundraising success reflects a super-charged base in 2018, which has sent a flood of donations from big and small donors alike to candidates across the country. ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform, raised $100 million for candidates and organizations in August, the group’s largest one-month total ever.

The gush of online money also allowed Democrats to jump on the TV airwaves in August, allowing some to define themselves ahead of a deluge of Republican outside spending. In a number of districts, Democrats are matching or outspending their Republican counterparts.