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VI. Partisan Politics
| All Races
(Primary & General) |
Open Seats
(General Only*) |
Incumbents
(All Races) |
Challengers
(All Races) |
|
| Total Raised
by Democrats |
$ 11,689,000
(Count = 124)
|
$ 1,726,000
(Count = 16)
|
$ 9,252,000
(Count = 70)
|
$ 527,000
(Count = 24)
|
| Average Raised
by Democrats |
$ 94,266
|
$ 107,875
|
$ 132,170
|
$ 21,958
|
| Total Raised
by Republicans |
$ 11,999,000
(Count = 136)
|
$ 2,911,000
(Count = 16)
|
$ 5,613,000
(Count = 62)
|
$ 3,024,000
(Count = 42)
|
| Average Raised
by Republicans |
$ 88,226
|
$ 181,938
|
$ 90,532
|
$ 72,000
|
Democrats hung on to majority control of the House while being slightly outspent by Republican candidates in 1998. Seventy Democratic incumbents sought reelection compared to 62 Republican incumbents. On average, Democratic incumbents raised $40,000 more than their Republican counterparts.
Open seat races were a different story. In the 18 open seats*, Republicans out- raised Democrats nearly 1.7:1. The average open-seat Democrat raised $108,000, the average open-seat Republican raised $182,000. Despite this lopsided spending, the outcome of these contests was almost an even split. Democrts won 10 and Republicans took 8 seats.
Republican challengers also outspent Democratic
challengers. The average Republican challenger raised $72,000, while
the average Democratic challenger scraped together just $22,000. Candidates
of non-major parties barely registered, raising just $2,648.
* Does not include candidates for Districts 6, 14, 75, 98 and 108, where the incumbent was defeated in a primary. Most of the spending in these races took place in the primary and the candidate of the incumbent's party prevailed in the general election.
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