Are Out Of State Donors Giving Candidates False Hope

We've seen plenty of state races in recent years where a high-profile Democrat outraises their Republican opponent in fundraising (Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell's races in recent years), only for the Democrat to get soundly defeated. The problem is that a lot of this money comes from out of state - from people who obviously don't get to vote in those races. So is it worth it for Democrats to send money to candidates in races where they can't vote? Farron Cousins answers that question.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

Third quarter fundraising reports are starting to come in, and we're seeing some candidates that are absolutely crushing it in the fundraising. Uh, Adam Frisch, Lauren Bert's opponent raised more than $3 million in the third quarter, and that is a huge haul. But sometimes numbers can be a little bit deceiving even when they're accurate numbers. We saw this with Ted Cruz in 2018. We saw it with Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell in 2020 and 2022. All their opponents, these Democrats raising huge sums of money, even more than their Republican incumbent opponents. But the money didn't help because the money wasn't actually coming from people in the state who were able to vote for these people. So just because you see somebody raising a ton of money doesn't necessarily mean that they've got it in the bag. But that brings me to our next question. This is a question from, uh, Weston Gale, 5 8, 9, 9.

Hey, Faron, love your videos, my man. Well, thank you very much. I had a quick question for you. It's kind of a random one, but do you think that it's worth it for someone from Arizona to be donating money to a campaign like Lucas Koontz in Missouri? I ask because I really like Lucas and I think he is an extremely strong candidate, but Missouri is a deep red, and I'm just not sure if my money can actually help him or not. Just let me know your opinion and I will make my own independent decision. That's awesome. I love that. Like, let me know what you think, but I'm, I'm not going to ba I'm not gonna do what you tell me to do one way or the other. I just want to know. I love that. Thank you so much. You're still an independent thinker and that's what we want more of.

Yes, it's worth it to give people money. I do think a hundred percent. I, the only candidates that I've ever given money to and just f y I was literally, I think $10 per person, um, have been people outside of my state. And there's only three of 'em, by the way. Uh, one was Bernie Sanders, uh, one was Ed Markey, uh, and the other one, uh, was Jan Yer in California. So having said that, I couldn't vote for those people, but I still gave 'em, you know, 10 bucks because hey, that's, you know, that's all I could give at the time. I like you. I think you're great. You got a strong opponent, so let me give you what I can. Um, so it's not, not worth it, you know, just because you can't vote for the person doesn't mean you, you can't give them a little bit of cash.

Now, I wouldn't go overboard with it. I mean, just to be honest, because as you point out, like Lucas Kuns, who you're talking about here, great candidate, I like him too, by the way. But in this area, can Kenny, he win? Like, am I just throwing my money away by giving it to this person outta state because I know I can't go and vote for them. Um, you're not throwing it away. Now, there are some areas where people are throwing it away. Uh, Amy McGrath, who ran against Mitch McConnell obviously raised so much money, and it's money coming from New York, it's coming from, you know, uh, the Midwest. It's coming from California, it's coming from Oregon and Washington. And then, oh wow, she actually got trampled. So the money didn't matter. That was throwing money away. You know, you gotta look at where you're giving the money, not just like who you're giving the money to, but you have to look at the area.

You know, let's say this, if I were running for office right now in my district against Matt Gaetz, and I went out there and said, Hey everybody, gimme your money. You may love me. I may be the best candidate you've ever seen. I would be, but it'd be a waste of money. I would have no chance in this area. This is a deep red district that is not voted for a Democrat in over 63 years. Okay? I'm not gonna win. So your money would be wasted on me. But if I were in a swing district,