Ryan Fundraising Committee Pulls in $11.1 Million for Midterms

(Bloomberg) -- Speaker Paul Ryan’s joint fundraising committee said Monday it raised $11.1 million during the first quarter of 2018, as he and his fellow Republicans work to try to hold the U.S. House amid a challenging environment for their party ahead of November’s midterm election.

The committee, named Team Ryan, said it has raised more than $54 million so far in the 2017-18 election cycle, a sum it called "an unprecedented total for a speaker’s political organization." More than $40 million has been transferred to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the committee said.

"Thanks to the speaker’s tireless efforts, our members and candidates across the country will have the resources they need this fall to tout how our agenda is allowing the economy to grow and families to keep more of what they earn," Kevin Seifert, the committee’s executive director, said in a statement.

Ryan has traveled to more than 30 states and more than 70 cities to help raise money for House Republicans this cycle, his committee said. That’s happened as he’s also kept a pledge to his family to spend most weekends at home in Wisconsin.

The speaker appears to be on pace to surpass the roughly $65 million he raised through the joint fundraising committee for the 2016 elections. Who gave to his committee -- and how much -- won’t be known until the group files a quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission later this month.

Republicans are trying to stave off a trend in which the party that holds the White House almost always loses seats in midterm elections.

Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to win the House and two to secure a majority in the Senate. Analysts suggest Democratic chances are better in the House because the party is defending far more Senate seats than Republicans and have only a few strong pickup opportunities in that chamber.

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Chicago at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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