The Congressional Leadership Fund and the American Action Network, outside spending groups allied with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), announced Tuesday they had brought in a record combined fundraising haul for the first half of 2019.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership and committed to winning a Republican majority in the House, raised $4.8 million. That sum lifted CLF's war chest to $7.8 million, more than double what the PAC has ever had at this time on an off year, CLF said. Meanwhile, the American Action Network raised $14.5 million during the same period.
The combined fundraising totals of the two organizations equals $19.3 million, which the CLF said is seven times greater than the sum of receipts from the same period during the last presidential cycle.
The announcement of record fundraising numbers for the organizations comes shortly after the House GOP leader himself announced a massive haul thus far in 2019: Kevin McCarthy's fundraising committees netted a record $33.72 million.
McCarthy attributed the impressive returns in part to "chaos" within the House Democratic caucus. CLF president Dan Conston similarly invoked ideological tensions among Democrats.
"As Democrats in the House bearhug a socialist agenda, CLF is well-positioned to help Republicans win back the Majority behind the strong leadership of Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise," Conston said.