Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., head into the 2024 campaign cycle with the largest war chests among senators up for re-election in 2024, according to the latest year-end FEC reports.
Sanders, 81, topped out the list with the most cash on hand of all incumbent senators up for re-election in 2024. While the Independent senator from Vermont raised roughly $975,000 last quarter, Sanders has amassed a whopping $9.7 million in cash on hand. Sanders has not announced a decision on his re-election intentions, though some have called for his retirement.
Manchin comes in close behind Sanders with $9.5 million in his war chest as he potentially prepares for a brutal re-election campaign. Manchin has also not made a re-election decision.
The Democrat from West Virginia is perhaps the most vulnerable senator in 2024. Then-President Trump won the state by a whopping 39 percentage points in the 2020 election, making the Senate seat ripe for a Republican pickup.
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Coming in at third is Sen. Kyrsten Sinema who has built up a war chest of just over $8.2 million, according to FEC year-end reports. Sinema recently announced her departure from the Democratic Party, formally registering as an Independent and negating any intra-party challenge from a Democrat during her primary campaign in 2024.
The Independent senator from Arizona will face a tough road to re-election with Republicans and Democrats eyeing her seat. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a longtime critic of Sinema, announced his Senate campaign earlier this month, while GOP firebrands Kari Lake and Blake Masters, who lost statewide elections in Arizona last fall, have also expressed interest in the contest.
Out of all incumbent senators up for re-election next cycle, Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, raised the most cash in the last months of 2022, according to the latest year-end reports.
Scott, former chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, raked in the most cash of any senator up for re-election in 2024, bringing in nearly $3.5 million — a sizable sum compared to his incumbent colleagues in the Senate. Rosen and Cruz came in behind Scott, bringing in $1.5 million and $1.2 million, respectively.
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Scott and Cruz are two of the top GOP fundraisers in the Senate and will face competitive races in states where Democrats will be looking for wins on an otherwise bleak senate map.
Scott’s Florida seat is considered one of Democrats’ best pickup opportunities in 2024, along with Cruz’s Texas seat. Both GOP senators won by narrow margins in 2018.
While Florida has been swing state territory in the past, Republicans won big in the Sunshine State in last year’s midterm elections. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decisive victory, flipping historically blue counties like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, suggests Florida is increasingly Republican ground – not to mention Sen. Marco Rubio’s 16-point win over Democrat Val Demings.