Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has raised more money than any other candidate for Congress this year. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas has overtaken Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) as the top fundraiser among federal candidates this election cycle.
Talarico’s rise marked the most notable shift in the latest round of quarterly fundraising reports.
Talarico’s $127.3 million fundraising total includes a third-quarter haul of $59.6 million, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of Federal Election Commission filings from July 1 through Sept. 30. Those reports were due to the FEC by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 15.
Ossoff, who has raised $109.3 million, ranked second after leading all Senate hopefuls through the previous quarter.
Democrats dominate the top fundraising rankings in both chambers. They hold the top nine spots among Senate candidates and nine of the top 11 among House candidates. Those rankings include three candidates who are no longer running: Senate candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and House candidate David Trone of Maryland, who lost their primaries, and Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine, who dropped out of the race.
Those totals will change soon. The final pre-general election filings, covering Oct. 1-14, are due to the FEC Oct. 22.
Key Senate races show large fundraising gaps
Active Democratic Senate candidates have raised $620.7 million, outpacing Republicans by about 2.5 to 1. The $246.8 million raised by GOP Senate candidates is a little over $10 million more than Talarico and Ossoff have raised combined.
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The filings reveal some massive gaps in three battleground races rated as toss-ups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Talarico has raised more than six times as much as his opponent state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who has raised $19.4 million. In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) has raised $61 million, compared with $18.8 million for Republican Sen. Jon Husted. And in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed (D) has raised nearly $44.9 million, while former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) has raised $20.4 million.
That fundraising advantage helps offset the Republicans’ edge in outside spending: Of the nearly $1.5 billion spent through Oct. 13 by super PACs and other groups independent of Senate campaigns, conservative groups spent $985.2 million compared with $459.1 million by liberals. The remainder came from groups without an identified ideological lean.
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Ossoff, who raised $32.4 million during the quarter, leads Senate candidates with $26.3 million in cash on hand. Three others, all Democrats, have war chests of at least $10 million: Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey ($22.6 million), Talarico ($14.6 million) and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ($12.5 million). Husted, with $8.9 million in cash on hand, is the only Republican among the top five.
The cash-on-hand totals exclude Georgia write-in candidate Christina Clement (R), whose campaign reports $50.2 million in cash, all of it backed by a $50.25 million loan she reported making to her own campaign. She has said the figure reflects a complex valuation of a license to her own currency-related intellectual property. The FEC warned that filing may be inaccurate and removed the loan from its searchable database, OpenSecrets reported in May. When asked at the time, Clement did not provide evidence that any money was deposited into the campaign’s account.
Top House fundraising is in non-competitive races
Among active House candidates, Democrats lead fundraising with $965.4 million compared with $756.5 million for Republicans.
Unlike in Senate races, outside spending in House races does not outpace candidate fundraising, sitting at around $950 million as of Oct. 16. Democratic outside groups have outspent Republican organizations, approximately $501 million to $429 million.
While the majority of recent outside spending is focused on competitive races that could determine control of the House, fundraising numbers are less aligned with competitiveness. Of the top five House fundraisers, none of them are competing for a toss-up seat.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) leads House fundraising with $37.1 million – nearly $13 million more than Mike Johnson (R-La.), the next closest fundraiser with an active campaign. Although Trone remains the second-largest overall fundraiser of House candidates, his campaign has been inactive since his primary loss in June.
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) beat out Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) for the fifth spot, with a total of $15.4 million. Vindman’s Republican challenger, Doug Ollivant, has raised only $377,672.
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During the third quarter, Ocasio-Cortez overtook Khanna for the most cash on hand. Between the second and third quarter, Khanna’s cash on hand increased by only $6,725, while AOC’s increased by nearly $1.5 million.
The Republican with the largest war chest was Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), who ranked fifth with $10.8 million in cash – though almost none of that was raised this year. Stefanik had previously been the Republican favorite for New York governor before she announced in December 2025 that she would suspend her campaign and not seek reelection to the House.
OpenSecrets’ figures reflect net amounts, which subtract refunds, offsets and loan repayments, and may differ slightly from the totals on the FEC’s website.
