Suburban Philly congressional race more expensive than U.S. Senate contest

With midterm elections a week away, political action committees that have no campaign contribution limits continue to spend heavily on both the Pa. congressional and U.S. Senate races. Since Keystone Crossroads checked last week, PAC spending went up by more than $3 million, greatly affecting some of the contests.

Eleven of the state’s 18 congressional races have attracted outside money as Pennsylvania has become a battleground for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Pa. 1st Congressional District

Most notably, the 1st Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic challenger Scott Wallace continues to attract interest from outside groups making independent expenditures.

Planned Parenthood Votes recently spent $730,000 to support Wallace, and the National Republican Congressional Committee kicked in $380,000 last week, bringing its total support for Fitzpatrick to $3.2 million.

Between this support and money spent by candidates from direct contributions, the race in the 1st Congressional District has become more expensive than the U.S. Senate race, where incumbent Democrat Bob Casey is running against Republican challenger Lou Barletta.

Of Scott Wallace’s direct contributions, $12.7 million has come from his own wallet.

Scott Wallace-D

IE Group	IE Spending
Planned Parenthood Votes	$1,104,351.91
DCCC	$318,360.36
NextGen Climate Action Committee	$218,856.75
MoveOn.org PAC	$30,679.77
America Votes Action Fund	$20,550.40
Total IE Spending	$1,692,799.19
Candidate Spending	$11,765,761.20
Total Spending	$13,458,560.39

Brian Fitzpatrick-R

IE Group	IE Spending
Congressional Leadership Fund	$3,659,558.86
NRCC	$3,189,337.14
No Labels Action	$591,645.05
American Unity PAC, Inc.	$515,748.00
Republican Jewish Coalition	$513,010.25
Defending Main Street SuperPAC	$472,823.73
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions	$141,850.00
Main Street Advocacy	$125,000.00
American Hospital Association PAC	$34,000.00
Environmental Defense Action Fund	$30,270.00
Humane Society Legislative Fund	$19,601.15
Total IE Spending	$9,292,844.18
Candidate Spending	$2,912,107.19
Total Spending	$12,204,951.37

U.S. Senate

In the U.S. Senate race, Casey received a $550,000 boost of support recently from a PAC called PA Values. Barletta continues to attract very little outside support.

Bob Casey-D

IE Group	IE Spending
PA Values	$1,150,000.00
For Our Future	$291,064.24
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO	$82,974.56
Unidosus Action PAC	$29,690.76
Progressive Turnout Project	$38,627.37
SEIU COPE	$7,252.09
Casa in Action PAC	$10,581.67
Human Rights Campaign Equality Votes PAC	$192.53
Total IE Spending	$1,610,383.22
Candidate Spending	$17,215,576.97
Total Spending	$18,825,960.19

Lou Barletta-R

IE Group	IE Spending
Stars and Stripes Forever PAC	$15,680.97
Total IE Spending	$15,680.97
Candidate Spending	$6,252,354.53
Total Spending	$6,268,035.50

Pa. 10th Congressional District

In the tightly contested 10th Congressional District race in the capitol region, incumbent Republican Scott Perry holds a slight spending advantage over Democratic challenger George Scott.

Perry, the beneficiary of $1.1 million in PAC support, holds a 2 point lead according to the New York Times.

George Scott-D

IE Group	IE Spending
With Honor Fund	$256,893.07
DCCC	$231,557.84
NextGen Climate Action Committee	$92,684.95
House Majority PAC	$60,620.54
For Our Future	$24,589.61
AFL-CIO COPE Treasury	$22,401.77
America Votes Action Fund	$20,550.40
Casa in Action PAC	$20,191.35
Keystone Progress	$500.00
SEIU COPE	$251.19
Total IE Spending	$730,240.72
Candidate Spending	$1,191,073.15
Total Spending	$1,921,313.87

Scott Perry-R

IE Group	IE Spending
America First Action, Inc.	$707,940.42
House Freedom Fund	$167,437.39
Heritage Action for America	$132,990.06
House Freedom Action	$98,964.26
National Rifle Association Victory Fund	$21,418.64
American Conservative Union	$5,000.00
Freedomworks for America	$2,500.00
Total IE Spending	$1,136,250.77
Candidate Spending	$959,731.95
Total Spending	$2,095,982.72

Pa. 7th Congressional District

Outside spending continues to benefit Democrat Susan Wild in the 7th Congressional District. Her supporters have given her a $3 million advantage over Republican Marty Nothstein, and she leads him by 7 points in a recent poll.

Susan Wild-D

IE Group	IE Spending
DCCC	$697,776.57
House Majority PAC	$621,586.16
Alliance for American Values	$149,986.72
Environment America Action Fund	$67,857.93
Women Vote!	$58,065.89
Next Gen Climate Action Committee	$51,050.00
Priorities USA Action	$40,666.30
Progressive Turnout Project	$40,227.37
For Our Future	$30,116.42
Immigrant Voters Win PAC	$12,000.00
JDCA PAC	$4,834.40
Alliance for Retired Americans	$3,450.00
Total IE Spending	$1,777,617.76
Candidate Spending	$2,351,945.58
Total Spending	$4,129,563.34

Marty Nothstein-R

IE Group	IE Spending
American Jobs and Growth PAC	$37,294.82
Total IE Spending	$37,294.82
Candidate Spending	$671,510.26
Total Spending	$708,805.08

The largest outside contributions from the past week have come from both the Republican and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees, Planned Parenthood, and MoveOn.org.

Democrats maintain a $20 million advantage in total spending, but more outside money has been spent on Republican campaigns.

	Total Spending	Spending from IE	% Spending from IE
Republican	$38,345,496.41	$11,230,402.10	29.29%
Democrat	$58,222,908.55	$8,184,910.72	14.06%
Total	$96,568,404.96	$19,415,312.82	20.11%

Midterm elections will be held November 6th. For a breakdown of all the races, use this table.