House Democratic primaries are drawing in record donations despite an expected loss in the midterm elections.
Super PACs and other nonprofit organizations have donated more than $53 million to House Democratic races as of Monday, according to OpenSecrets. This is nearly twice as much as in recent elections, where only $30 million was spent on primaries in 2018 and 2020.
The majority of spending appears to be focused on districts that Democrats control, according to Politico. This seems to imply that the various ideological branches of the parties are attempting to compete for control of the party's priorities in 2022.
“There’s far, far more spending than we’ve ever seen before, and that’s for two reasons,” Democratic pollster Mark Mellman said. "One, because the number of competitive districts has declined dramatically, most members are now selected in primaries, so primaries become more important. Second, people looked at Ohio’s 11th special [in 2021] and said, ‘It’s possible to intervene and really make a difference.’”
