In a stunning, record-setting third quarter, Democratic candidates for U.S. House of Representatives raised nearly $250 million for their respective races.

That number, estimated by the Center for Responsive Politics using Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, is significantly higher than the $178 million raised by Democratic House candidates last quarter, which was also a clear-cut record.

With an entire quarter remaining in the 2018 election cycle, Democratic candidates have raised approximately $876 million, a record for a congressional election cycle and nearly double the previous-highest amount raised by this point ($458 million in 2008).

Despite an incumbency advantage, Republican candidates were more than doubled in fundraising, collecting nearly $111 million from July through September. That figure is slightly down from the $117 million brought in last quarter.

Still, Republican House candidates are on pace to set a fundraising record of their own for a single election cycle, having raised $597 million through the first three quarters. The previous-highest haul at this point was $554 million in 2012.

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Combining all House candidates, they have brought in nearly $1.5 billion with another quarter yet to be recorded and with some filings yet to be accounted for. By this point in 2016, candidates raised $919 million and ended the cycle with just over $1 billion.

The massive numbers are driven by widespread financial support for Democratic House candidates nationwide. More than 60 Democratic House candidates raised more than $1 million in the third quarter, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), an unprecedented statistic.

In the third quarter, more than $385 million was raised for Democratic candidates at all levels through online fundraising platform ActBlue. Individual House candidates across the country reported record-breaking fundraising in the third quarter.

Democrats need to gain a net 23 seats to take control of the House. FiveThirtyEight gives them a 5 in 6 chance to do so.

Senior Researcher Doug Weber contributed to this post.



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