Also: Coronavirus related lobbying continues

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April 16th, 2020
This week in money-in-politics

Incumbent Republicans losing fundraising advantage in toss-up Senate races


The battle for the Senate is shaping up to be competitive — and expensive.

Through the first three months of 2020, Democratic challengers outraised their incumbent Republican opponents in each of the four tightest Senate races labeled toss-ups by the Cook Political Report.

Those challengers have gradually chipped away at the incumbents’ cash advantage. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) had roughly three times more campaign cash than Democratic challenger Sara Gideon through the end of 2019. But Gideon outraised Collins $7.1 million to $2.4 million in the first quarter of 2020, leaving Collins with a $1 million cash advantage.
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** Coronavirus drives barrage of new lobbying activity
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Washington lobbying firms are finding new clients as businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic race to influence government policy. Lobbying firms registered activity for over 140 new clients on issues related to COVID-19 over the last month. More than two-thirds of those clients have never lobbied at the federal level or had not hired lobbyists in recent years. The influx of new lobbying activity indicates that K Street isn’t being slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
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** GOP infighting ensues for Georgia Senate seat
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Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and primary challenger Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) are amassing huge sums of campaign cash in what has become a divisive special Senate election. Loeffler raised $1.2 million from donors for her reelection bid during the first three months of 2020. As a wealthy businesswoman, Loeffler loaned her campaign $5 million, bringing her total self-funding to $10 million this cycle. Her ability to self-fund her bid was one of her initial strengths early on in the race.
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** California lawmakers back small business aid to private equity-backed companies
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As Democrats and Republicans deadlock over how to allocate new stimulus funds, top lawmakers from both sides of the aisle seem to agree on one thing — small businesses backed by private equity and venture capital investment firms should be able to tap into the aid. Congressional leaders continue to negotiate another round of $250 billion in aid to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus.
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OpenSecrets in the News

See where we've been cited by media outlets around the nation this week:

* ** Robert Mercer starts big money effort for Trump and RNC after cutting back support (CNBC) ([link removed])
President Donald Trump and the RNC have one of their old allies back in the big money fundraising game after he stepped back from helping the commander in chief.

* ** Trump asks Patriots’ Robert Kraft, Cowboys’ Jerry Jones to help restart economy after coronavirus pandemic (New Jersey Advance) ([link removed])
The commissioners of the four major professional leagues and the owners of the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots were among those named to a White House committee to recommend how to restart the economy after the coronavirus outbreak.

* ** Sen. Richard Burr's real estate deal further tarnishes his reputation (Winston-Salem Journal) ([link removed])
North Carolina Senator Richard Burr sold a townhouse near Capitol Hill in 2017 to a pharmaceutical lobbyist for $900,000, a price reportedly “tens of thousands above some estimates of the property’s value" by experts.

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