House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced Thursday that he raised more than $4.8 million in the third quarter, almost doubling his total from the previous three-month period.
The Louisiana Republican has raised $15 million this election cycle, including $2.5 million from the second quarter of this year, and has sent $5 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), according to his office. In the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, he sent $2.1 million to the NRCC.
{mosads}Scalise’s office said he has broken fundraising records for a Republican whip each quarter. Those amounts come as House GOP leaders jockey for position in preparation for the departure of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who is retiring from Congress in early January.
Ryan publicly endorsed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to succeed him, and Scalise, the No. 3 GOP leader, has said he will not challenge McCarthy for the top GOP leadership post. But Scalise has been campaigning for GOP colleagues across the country and taking positions to the right of McCarthy that have bolstered support among conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus.
If McCarthy stumbles in his second attempt to become party leader in the chamber, Scalise would likely enter the race for the top leadership post.
Republicans are looking to fend off a potential blue wave of Democrats who are hoping to flip Congress from its current Republican majority. FiveThirtyEight predicts that Democrats have a 77.7 percent chance of taking the House in November, but only a 19.2 percent chance of winning the Senate.