With the primary finalized and congressional contests now set, Democrats — and a self-funding independent — maintained massive financial leads over their Republican opponents through the end of June.

As she has all cycle, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) led the pack, raising $7.6 million in the three months of the quarter, per Federal Election Commission filings — a record for the second quarter in Nevada. Her Republican opponent, Sam Brown, had his best quarter as well, pulling in $4 million. Each Senate candidate raised more than their 2022 counterpart, a portent for the 2024 cycle breaking the spending records set just two years ago.

With several wealthy Republican candidates losing primaries in Congressional Districts 1 and 3, Democrats’ cash advantages grew exponentially. Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Susie Lee (D-NV) raised more than 10 times more than their GOP counterparts in the quarter, while Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) beat Republican opponent and former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee in second quarter fundraising by a more than 5-to-1 ratio.

Each of the three incumbent Las Vegas House Democrats posted their best fundraising quarters of the cycle. Lee raised about $1.09 million, with Horsford close behind at about $1.03 million. Titus was third with about $495,000 raised. 

None of the three  Republican challengers to the Las Vegas Democrats raised more than $200,000 this quarter.

Congressional District 2 is a different story. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who has represented Northern Nevada since 2011, is facing self-funded independent candidate Greg Kidd, after no Democrats filed to run for the seat. Kidd loaned his campaign $1 million this quarter. Unlike candidates who loan their campaigns large sums but are often hesitant to actually spend it, Kidd spent nearly $1 million this quarter as well.  

Senate

Rosen’s financial advantage has allowed her to outspend Brown on the airwaves. Rosen — who did not face a competitive primary — has spent or placed $27 million in ads, per AdImpact, while Brown has booked over $1 million worth. Both have been and will continue to be supported by outside groups.

Brown’s $4 million quarter was his best of the cycle — but the $3.6 million between his total and Rosen’s is the biggest gulf between them of any quarter as well.

Rosen’s financial strength — as in other quarters — has come through small-dollar donations. Her campaign said 96 percent of donations were less than $100, with an average online donation of $37. Democrats across the country have typically outraised Republicans during the last several election cycles on the strength of ActBlue, their digital donation platform. 

Brown raised $1.46 million in unitemized donations — contributions of less than $200 — in the second quarter. 

Rosen has now raised just more than $2 million from Nevadans since entering office in 2019, which is less than her haul from California ($3.8 million) and New York ($2.4 million). Brown has raised $1.2 million from Nevadans, followed by California ($547,000) and Texas ($405,000). 

Democrats dominating in House races

Lee and Horsford each raised more than $1 million in the second quarter, a significant sum for House candidates and a valuable asset in races that analysts say are competitive but should favor the Democratic incumbents — especially after redistricting gave all three seats a Democratic lean.

All three Democrats are now financially dominating their races after independently wealthy candidates Dan Schwartz and Marty O’Donnell lost in the Congressional District 3 primary and Flemming Larsen fell short in Congressional District 1.

Drew Johnson, the think tank analyst who emerged from the crowded primary to take on Lee, reported raising nearly $105,000 to Lee’s nearly $1.1 million in the second quarter. 

The difference in cash on hand is even more stark. Johnson, who loaned his campaign $300,000 during the primary, spent more than he took in this quarter — leaving him with less than $50,000 in his war chest. Lee, by contrast, has nearly $3 million in available cash, which has allowed her to make a seven-figure ad reservation for the fall.

To be competitive, Johnson — as well as his counterparts in Congressional Districts 1 and 4 — will likely need to rely on outside spending to even the advertising gap. But thus far, the major organizations associated with House Republican leadership have yet to make any financial commitments in Nevada and are skittish about their prospects in the state.

Of the three House Democrats, Titus has typically been the worst fundraiser. Her $495,000 haul was her best yet of the cycle, but less than half of what Lee and Horsford pulled in over the same timeframe. But Titus, who kicked up her fundraising last cycle in her first race under new maps that put more Republicans into her Strip-based district, faces the worst-funded major-party congressional candidate in Nevada: Mark Robertson.

Robertson raised less than $50,000 this quarter, and has $100,000 on hand to Titus’ more than $1.3 million. The contest is a rematch of 2022, in which Titus won by 5.6 percentage points. 

Robertson was boosted in 2022 by outside spending from groups such as House Republican leadership-connected super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund, which dropped $8.6 million to try to defeat Titus. CLF has made no reservations in Las Vegas this cycle, compared to $15 million made by this point in 2022.

Of the Las Vegas Republican challengers, former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, running against Horsford in Congressional District 4, raised the most — $182,000. 

Despite being outraised, he outspent Horsford this quarter in large part because he faced a competitive primary against Air Force veteran David Flippo. Lee spent more than $780,000 this quarter, using his own money (he loaned his campaign more than half a million dollars) to go up on television.

Horsford has been able to save his money for the fall and place $1.6 million in ad reservations. His war chest sits at more than $2.2 million, while Lee is down to less than $39,000 — the lowest total of all congressional candidates.

Finally, Amodei, who has won seven straight elections, is facing a unique election this year against a self-funded independent. Kidd, a pro-business, pro-choice entrepreneur, immediately started airing ads after Amodei easily won his primary. 

Per AdImpact, Kidd has spent nearly $240,000 on three television ads, touting his political independence and support for abortion rights. Amodei, who raised nearly $330,000 and has an $100,000 cash on hand advantage, has not made any ad buys.

Amodei has never exclusively faced a nonpartisan candidate in a general election, but he has handily beaten Democrat opponents at every opportunity. He won his last election by nearly 22 percentage points.