Murphy has made himself something of a national figure over the past year by launching a filibuster on gun control after the Orlando massacre. (He's even received some 2020 presidential buzz.) But other Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2018 are also reporting record fundraising numbers for this time of year in their states:

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In Virginia, another national figure — Tim Kaine — raised $2.9 million.

In Pennsylvania, Robert P. Casey Jr. raised $2.7 million.

In Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin raised $2.4 million.

In Florida, Ben Nelson raised $2 million.

In North Dakota, one of Democrats' most endangered senators, Heidi Heitkamp, raised a state record $1.6 million for the first quarter of an off-year. (Though Heitkamp is walking a thin line in a state Trump won by more than 35 points: She was just one of three Senate Democrats to vote for Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil M. Gorsuch, and she was even once floated as a potential member of his administration.)

In Indiana, a state Trump won by 19 points, Joe Donnelly raised a state record $1.3 million for this quarter.

These fundraising numbers are huge for any candidate to post at this time, when few people are usually paying attention to politics, much less writing a check for a campaign that's not for another year and a half. They're especially politically resonant at this moment. Senate Democrats' big numbers fit into a larger story we've been watching unfold since Trump was elected: Democrats' base is fired up and active, and they are manifesting themselves in some unexpected ways.

(A caveat to this: At least one vulnerable Senate Republican, Dean Heller in Nevada, raised $1.4 million in the first quarter, which is a lot considering his entire 2012 reelection campaign raised $4.7 million.)

Back to Democratic momentum. Consider:

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Special congressional elections in Kansas on Tuesday and Georgia next Tuesday to fill spots vacated by members of Trump's Cabinet are surprisingly competitive. In Georgia, where a Democrat hasn't held Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price's former seat for some 40 years, Democrat Jon Ossoff raised an insane $8.3 million in the first quarter of 2017 and could force that race into a runoff or even win it outright April 18.

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In Kansas, Trump, Vice President Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) are all campaigning in some form or another juuust to make sure that CIA Director Mike Pompeo's former seat — in one of the most Republican districts in the nation — doesn't go to a virtually unknown Democrat with no legislative experience. (State Treasurer Ron Estes (R) ended up winning by 7 points, 20 points less than Trump won the district by in November.)

In a special election for Montana's lone House seat, a folk singer and Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter raised $1.3 million to try to win a seat that a Democrat hasn't held that since 1996.

And every time Congress breaks from its work here in Washington, we hear stories of GOP lawmakers overwhelmed by hundreds — if not thousands — of mostly liberal constituents showing up to air their grievances. On Monday night, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) — the “you lie!” congressman — was drowned out for some 30 seconds at a town hall by chants of, well, “you lie!”

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If we dig even deeper for signs of Democratic enthusiasm since Trump's election, we can find it. Since November, Democrats have won special elections in state legislatures in Iowa, Virginia, Connecticut and Delaware. In a special election for Delaware's state Senate race in February, the winning Democratic candidate won in a Saturday, off-year special election by 1,000 votes more than the Democratic candidate of that seat earned in the 2014 general.

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Anecdotal evidence from partisan and nonpartisan women-in-politics organizations suggests that women-only classes for how to run for office are packed.

So, what does all this momentum on the left actually mean for Democrats' chance to pick up seats in the 2018 midterm elections?

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To that, we have an unsatisfying answer: We just don't know. No matter how much money they raise, it doesn't change that Senate Democrats' caucus is facing a difficult challenge to keep their 48 seats in the Senate, let alone pick off Republicans to pick up the majority. Democrats are defending 25 seats in 2018, 10 in states that Trump won, compared with Republicans' defense of nine, just two in states considered to be competitive.

In the House, Democrats would have to kick out most or all of the two dozen House Republicans who won in districts that voted for Clinton to take back the majority.