By Dawn Kopecki
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) – A super PAC backed by billionaire Ken Griffin has spent nearly $5 million on Florida’s US Senate race to bolster Republican candidate Ashley Moody, a sign that major donors and party leaders are scrambling to defend seats once considered safe as President Donald Trump’s popularity wanes.
Across the US, Republicans running for the Senate and House are facing voter backlash, according to party officials and strategists, as Trump’s approval rating slides and Democrats gain ground in races once viewed as long shots in November’s midterm congressional elections.
Party leaders increasingly worry they could lose control of the Senate, prompting donors and outside groups to devote resources to contests that until recently attracted little attention. The spending in Florida is one of the clearest signs of that shift.
The race between Moody, who was appointed to the seat in January 2025 after Marco Rubio became secretary of state, and Democrat Angie Nixon is still rated “Safe Republican” or “Solid Republican” by major election forecasters. Yet a Griffin-backed super PAC has spent $4.9 million attacking Nixon over the past two weeks, accounting for roughly 87% of all spending in the race.
Party leaders and mega donors have started to pump money into races like Moody’s as internal data shows some candidates in states and districts Trump won by 10 or more percentage points in 2024 may still be vulnerable, according to people familiar with the party’s thinking.
Republican leaders expect to lose at least two Senate seats and increasingly fear losing control of the 100-member chamber, two people close to party officials said. Rank-and-file Republican senators at lunch last week were hopeful the 7 Senate and 22 House toss-up races identified by the Cook Political Report lean in their favor, according to one attendee.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told reporters on a call on Wednesday there was a “record” number of toss-up races within “striking distance” for Republicans.
Election forecaster Nate Silver puts the odds of Democrats taking control of the House at over 92.3% and the Senate at 72.6%.
Super PAC Stronger Safer Nation, which was backed by a $2.5 million donation in May from Citadel founder Ken Griffin and $6.7 million from a Florida state PAC when it closed in March, has raised about $12 million so far and has not spent money on any other race, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Aaron Whitehad, a strategist for the independent super PAC, said it was formed in 2025 for the sole purpose of supporting Moody, so “it should not come as a surprise” that it is spending money on her campaign.
Party leaders have also come in with some late support for Moody. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, dropped $30,000 in text messages for Moody about a week ago. Super PACs can spend unlimited sums on political campaigns.
“Billionaires dropping money on unelected Ashley Moody is nothing new, but maybe it’s happening more frantically right now because they’re clearly terrified of our people-powered movement,” Nixon’s campaign manager Eunic Epstein-Ortiz said in a statement to Reuters.
Moody’s campaign and Griffin’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Griffin announced plans on Wednesday to donate $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University to support the Pittsburgh school — including to build a campus in Miami, where he has moved his fund.
A hedge-fund manager and prolific Republican mega donor, Griffin has kept a relatively low profile this election cycle, donating just $32.3 million to federal races so far, less than half of the $74 million he donated during the 2022 midterms and a fraction of the $108.8 million he spent during the 2024 presidential election cycle.
(Reporting by Dawn Kopecki. Additional reporting by Nolan D. McKaskill in Washington; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller)
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