The Democratic Party's summertime strategy of spending millions of dollars on low-resource Republican candidates during primary season has seemingly paid off in the fall.
History might offer a different perspective of that overall assessment, if GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake prevails in Arizona, as a reported 600,000 votes in Maricopa County have yet to be counted.
Democrat leaders likely will not experience massive seat losses in the various House and Senate races.
Among the "boosting" moves that ultimately rewarded Democrat candidates in a general-election setting:
New Hampshire
The Democrats reportedly invested $3.1 million into Republican Senate candidate Don Bolduc's summertime campaign.
However, for the general election, various reports had incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., raking in more than $30 million in funds — almost 10 times greater than Bolduc's spending output.
The final result: Hassan (53.8% of the vote) defeated Bolduc by nearly double-digit percentage points.
Illinois
For the gubernatorial race featuring incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic Governors Association reportedly spent $35 million on ads during the primaries, attacking state Sen. Darren Bailey's "more centrist" GOP primary rival, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, according to the Washington Examiner.
That amount "was more than triple what Bailey had raised for his own campaign," the Examiner added.
Despite his campaign's efforts of running on curbing the rampant crime in Chicago, Bailey still lost to Pritzker by double-digit percentage points on Election Night.
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Senate race, pitting Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz against Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (the Democrat is projected to win), garnered most of the national attention.
But Josh Shapiro's gubernatorial victory over Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano might have greater long-term ramifications, in terms of directing the state Legislature for the 2024 election.
According to the Examiner, Shapiro's 2022 campaign and Democratic Party officials spent $840,000 propping up Mastriano during primary season — "more than double" what the Trump-endorsed candidate reportedly received from the Republican Party.
For the general election, Shapiro easily outdistanced Mastriano in ad buys — to the tune of $59 million, the Examiner reports — and that investment may have helped Shapiro win the governor's office.
Maryland
The gubernatorial race did not feature incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on the 2022 ballot.
Consequently, the Democratic Governors Association's DGA Action super PAC reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of summertime dollars on state delegate Dan Cox in the Republican primaries.
And for the general election, Cox was essentially no match for Democrat candidate Wes Moore, who tallied nearly 60% of the total vote and became the first Black governor-elect in Maryland history.
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