REPUBLICANS WERE supposed to have two big advantages in this year’s congressional elections: maps and money. Neither appears to be protecting them from a midterm bloodbath(惨败；大屠杀). Despite winning this cycle’s House gerrymandering(不公正的选区划分) war and benefiting from a red-hued Senate battleground(偏红的参议院战场), polls suggest that Republicans currently trail in both chambers. And new fundraising data should dent conservative hopes that the party’s candidates could close these deficits by swamping their opponents with advertising in the campaign’s final weeks.(而新的筹款数据应该会打击保守派的希望——他们原本指望本党候选人能在竞选最后几周用广告淹没对手，从而缩小这些差距。)
共和党人本应在今年的国会选举中拥有两大优势：选区地图和资金。但这两者似乎都无法让他们免于中期选举的惨败。尽管共和党赢得了本选举周期的众议院选区划分之争，并受益于偏红的参议院战场，但民调显示共和党目前在两院均落后。而新的筹款数据应该会打击保守派的希望——他们原本指望本党候选人能在竞选最后几周用广告淹没对手，从而缩小这些差距。
Third-quarter financial reports show a “green wave(绿色浪潮（指资金）)” of Democratic money alongside the blue wave seen in polling. Excluding self-funding, Republican Senate candidates raised just $65m from July to September, compared with a whopping $276m for their opponents.(剔除自筹资金后，共和党参议院候选人在7月至9月仅筹得6500万美元，而对手筹得高达2.76亿美元。) Democrats had a smaller but still commanding(压倒性的；占绝对优势的) advantage in House fundraising of $226m to $130m.
第三季度财务报告显示，与民调中出现的“蓝色浪潮”相伴，民主党资金也掀起了“绿色浪潮”。剔除自筹资金后，共和党参议院候选人在7月至9月仅筹得6500万美元，而对手筹得高达2.76亿美元。民主党在众议院筹款中也拥有较小但仍具压倒性的优势，为2.26亿美元对1.3亿美元。
Republicans have offset(抵消；弥补) these shortfall(缺口；不足)s with a big lead in spending by independent “super PACs(超级政治行动委员会)”, which are not subject to(受制于；须遵守) donation limits. Elon Musk alone gave more than $200m to such groups in the third quarter. In total, Republican-aligned super PACs have outspent(支出超过) Democratic ones on Senate ads by $750m to $317m. However, these groups pay around three times more than campaigns do for advertising, making Democrats’ edge in direct fundraising far more valuable.(然而，这些团体支付的广告费用约为竞选团队的三倍，这使得民主党在直接筹款上的优势更有价值。) As a result(因此；结果), according to the Wesleyan Media Project database, there were only 20% more Senate ads favouring Republicans than Democrats during the first half of October.
共和党人通过独立“超级政治行动委员会”的大幅支出领先来抵消这些缺口，这些委员会不受捐款上限约束。仅埃隆·马斯克一人就在第三季度向此类团体捐赠了超过2亿美元。总体而言，与共和党结盟的超级政治行动委员会在参议院广告上的支出以7.5亿美元对3.17亿美元超过民主党。然而，这些团体支付的广告费用约为竞选团队的三倍，这使得民主党在直接筹款上的优势更有价值。因此，根据卫斯理媒体项目数据库，10月上半月，支持共和党的参议院广告仅比支持民主党的多20%。