The Cost of Politics: The Most Expensive Senate and House Races in 2008

The millions of dollars being thrown down on the 2008 Presidential election does make it harder to focus on the Senate and House races also taking place. But the dollar signs on some of those ‘lesser races’ are deserving of a little attention, as well.

In the House, New York District 20 is leading the fundraising race, with $3.2 million as of Jan. 2, 2008. The reason? The Democratic incumbent, Kirsten Gillibrand is currently facing off with four different Republicans (and a few more are rumored to still be considering getting involved).

Kirsten E. Gillibrand — $2,023,861
Sandy Treadwell — $822,013
Richard C. Wager — $248,823
Michael R. Rocque — $120,555
John Wallace — $6,575

Why is Gillibrand building such a war chest? She won her seat in 2006 by a fairly tight margin: she received 53%  of the vote, with her opponent receiving 47%. The 2006 election was an upset, and was brutal. Furthermore, NY-20 is a red district. The registered voters (as of Nov. 2007) are 42% Republican and 25% Democrat. It’s going to be a hard campaign, and Gillibrand is going to have to fight hard to hold on to her seat.

The Texas Senate race is shaping up to be just as harsh as NY-20. John Comyn, the Republican incumbent, has already raised $12 million, topping the $10 million he raised to get himself elected in 2002. The total currently raised for this race is over $31 million, but that number is somewhat faulty: Democratic challenger Mikal Watts raised $18.5 million before backing out of the race (much of which came out of Watts’ own pockets). But Comyn still has plenty of Democratic opponents, all of whom are out fundraising.

These two races look to be among the most expensive in their respective categories. They are also predicted to be nasty: the sort of political campaign where candidates are willing to do whatever they think it takes to get elected.

Sources: OpenSecret, 2008 Race Tracker