The leadership PAC for Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, collected about $3.8 million for the midterm election cycle, beating out almost 300 similar fundraising outfits in Congress, the Bradenton Herald reported.
His Reclaim America PAC spent just under $4 million, according to Federal Election Commission findings through late November — second behind the leadership PAC of Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican.
But the Herald reported that Mr. Rubio’s PAC spent $645,255 on contributions to other federal candidates or expenditures on their behalf — 10th among 298 similarly classified groups, and No. 254 by percentage of money spent that way.
The majority of the money for the PAC affiliated with the possible 2016 GOP presidential contender went to fundraising, strategy, research and other expenses.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant told the paper Mr. Rubio decided early on he wanted to target a handful of high-profile races where he thought he could have an impact and didn’t want to spread his money too thin, and that Mr. Rubio also helped raise more than $3 million for candidates.
Among the candidates who received support were GOP Sens.-elect Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and former Sen. Scott Brown, who lost a U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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