Move over swing states: Control of Congress runs through New York – and costs a lot

What will it cost to try to win a handful of congressional races in New York that could tip the balance of power in Washington?

The answer is $146 million… so far.

Democrats and Republicans are targeting six House districts in the Empire State that could be up for grabs on Election Day. Most are in the suburbs of New York City, in the Hudson Valley and Long Island.

The political donor class has responded by putting its money where its collective mouth is, pumping tens of millions of dollars into every race. That money has been used to blanket the airwaves in an attempt to influence some of the country’s most influential House races.

Here’s a look at New York’s top congressional races by the numbers.

We are No. 2! The second most expensive race in the country is…

…New York’s sprawling 19th District, stretching all the way from the mid-Hudson Valley to Ithaca.

The bitter rematch between Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro and Democratic attorney Josh Riley has generated about $41 million in spending so far this cycle, according to Federal Elections Commission filings.

That’s the second-highest total in the country, just behind a House race in California. according to OpenSecretsthat keeps track of election expenditures.

In all, 32 outside groups have poured about $27 million into the race and funded a barrage of ads — most of them negative — focused on immigration, abortion and more.

Elsewhere in the state, the battle in the Hudson Valley between incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones is also one of the most expensive races in the country, raising about $36 million.

So who is financing these six races in New York?

The bulk of the spending – about $90 million – comes from outside groups, which are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money.

Among the biggest spenders is the Congressional Leadership Fund, a national PAC dedicated to electing Republicans that has spent $25.8 million on the six New York races alone. The biggest donors include Timothy Mellon, the banking heir and major Republican Party benefactor, and Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of hedge fund Citadel.

The House Majority PAC – a pro-democracy organization – has spent about $15 million. The largest donor is former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Battleground New York, a Democratic-backing PAC funded largely by labor unions, has spent more than $4 million on the six races; it also spent about $1.6 million on Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is back on the ballot after winning a key special election to replace ousted Republican Rep. George Santos earlier this year. Suozzi is running against Republican Michael LiPetri.

All told, 70 different outside groups have spent at least some money trying to influence key races in New York.

That includes groups like Bloomberg’s gun safety organization Everytown, which has spent about $1.6 million supporting Democratic candidates or criticizing their Republican opponents, according to Federal Election Commission data.

On the Republican side, the National Association of Realtors PAC has spent about $2.8 million supporting Lawler and Molinaro.

Two-thirds of the money has gone to negative ads or efforts to oppose a candidate. The remaining third went to positive ads or efforts that support a candidate, according to the documents.

$500,000 each: Wall Street-heavy collective bets on NY Dems

An organized collective of 99 wealthy donors, most from the tri-state area, gave a major boost to three New York Democrats in battleground struggles.

It’s called the House Victory Fund, and donors collectively contributed more than $500,000 to Jones, Riley and Laura Gillen, a Long Island Democrat who challenged Rep. Anthony D’Esposito.

It’s a significant part of the change. In all three New York cases, the fund is listed as the candidates’ largest donor, although it is actually a collection of donations.

This year, the fund raised more than eight million dollars from private individuals, of which more than six million dollars came from people who provided an address in New York. This includes many Wall Street types, including former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and a wide range of financiers, executives, and employees with various investment funds, such as Politico reported this earlier this year.

Other donors who contributed to the national fundraising effort include Laurie Tisch, whose family owns the New York Giants; Kamal Patel, co-founder of the nutrition website Examine.com; philanthropists David and Susan Rockefeller; and Elizabeth Economics of the Hoover Institution.

$21.8 million: The country’s leading candidate is in… Brooklyn?

New York City is not expected to see competitive congressional elections this year. So why has a representative from Brooklyn raised far more than any other candidate for the House of Representatives in the country?

Don’t think too hard. It’s House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who has more at stake this election cycle than just about anyone not named Trump or Harris. If Democrats win a national majority, Jeffries would be in line to make history as the first black Speaker of the House.

He has raised huge amounts of money to make this possible. That includes as much as $21.8 million for his individual campaign account, which he uses to support the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and individual candidates across the country. It is more than $4 million more than current House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, the No. 2 fundraiser.

FEC records show that Jeffries’ campaign has thousands of individual contributors from across the country. He has also received contributions from hundreds of committees controlled by labor unions and special interest groups – including names like CVS Health, SEIU, Deloitte, BlackRock and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC.

In addition to Jeffries, two other members of New York state’s House delegation cracked the list of top 10 fundraisers this cycle: Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of the North Country ($14 million) and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx ($13.3 million). ), both of which have an important national profile.

The bill for two races on Long Island: $37.5 million so far

There are two key House races on Long Island: the battle for the 1st District in Suffolk County between GOP Rep. Nick LaLota and Democrat John Avlon, and D’Esposito’s rematch against Gillen, the former Hempstead supervisor, in the 4th District.

So far, the race between Gillen and D’Esposito has proven to be more expensive: about $27 million.

As an incumbent, D’Esposito’s campaign spending has recently received significant media attention. A story from CNN raised questions about why his campaign spent more than $102,000 on food and drinks, including more than $23,000 at steakhouses, bars and liquor stores.

“Last time I checked, no one wants to go to political fundraisers at a fast food restaurant. So you have to spend money to raise money,” D’Esposito told Gothamist. He said he needed to recruit new donors to make a successful run in a highly competitive district, “and that’s what it takes to do that.”

Aside from the races in the Hudson Valley and Long Island, the other competitive race in New York takes place in Central New York. That’s where first-term Republican Rep. Brandon Williams is trying to hold on in a race against Democratic Sen. John Mannion.

Brigid Bergin contributed reporting.