SHOW ME THE MONEY — Now that the 2022 cycle is wrapped up, some candidates are planning their moves to Washington — and others are planning their next steps. Federal election spending blew through records this year , but not every war chest was cleared out. Candidates who just won their elections can do a few things with their leftover money . That includes winding down a campaign office and maintaining a transition office, traveling and moving family to D.C., and paying for support staff's salaries. Those who lost can donate to charities, make transfers to other committees or move the funds to a future federal campaign committee, should they choose to run again. The most recent financial reports filed to the Federal Election Commission last week give us a snapshot of the last rush of raising and spending leading up to the election, from Oct. 20 through Nov. 28. Keep in mind that we'll get more updated figures through the end of the year when year-end reports are due to the FEC on Jan. 31. Even in the most expensive races , where millions of dollars flowed in and out, chunks of money are sitting in the bank. Here's how much money is left in the most expensive general election races, as of Nov. 28 and compiled by OpenSecrets. (Note: Georgia tops the list as most expensive, but the most recent reporting from the state is through Nov. 16, because of the runoff that was held last week. Post-runoff reports are due to the FEC on Jan. 5, covering Nov. 17 through Dec. 26. We'll check back in with the Peach State then.) — Florida: Big spending doesn't guarantee a win. Democratic Rep. Val Demings spent almost twice as much as Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who easily won reelection by 16 points. She was left with $633,000 in the bank after spending $79.6 million on the race. Total raised: $129,447,998 (Rubio: $49,953,707, Demings: $79,494,291) Total spent: $128,968,746 (Rubio: $49,336,324, Demings: $79,632,422) Total left over: $1,422,877 (Rubio: $789,586, Demings: $633,291) — Pennsylvania: Democratic Sen.-elect John Fetterman was one of the most prolific spenders this cycle, dropping $72.7 million on the race . He had a large war chest to work with — the most for a candidate who hasn't been in Congress before. He comes in behind Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock (Ga.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.), followed by Demings. Now that it's all over, he nearly emptied out his coffers, with just $859,000 left. Meanwhile, Republican Mehmet Oz, who lost by around 5 points last month, trailed Fetterman in raising and spending. (Oz put $26.8 million of his own money into his campaign this cycle.) He has around $1.8 million left over — much more than other Senate candidates who lost their elections. Total raised: $124,285,779 (Fetterman: $73,549,569, Oz: $50,736,210) Total spent: $121,593,173 (Fetterman: $72,690,675, Oz: $48,902,498) Total left over: $2,692,606 (Fetterman: $858,894, Oz: $1,833,712) — Arizona: Incumbent Kelly is notoriously a top fundraiser and spender. He ended the cycle with $2.1 million. Although his next election is six years away, we'll keep an eye on how that cash is used as the political landscape in Arizona changes ahead of the 2024 election. Total raised: $103,671,513 (Kelly: $88,792,543, Masters: $14,878,970) Total spent: $102,665,486 (Kelly: $88,093,451, Masters: $14,572,035) Total left over: $2,408,551 (Kelly: $2,101,616, Masters: $306,935) — Nevada: Rivaling Kelly's stash of cash is incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto , who has $3.9 million left over . That's a huge jump compared to her first Senate run in 2016, when she had just under $297,000 left in the bank . Total raised: $83,098,974 (Cortez Masto: $64,917,737, Laxalt: $18,181,237) Total spent: $78,773,049 (Cortez Masto: $61,212,315, Laxalt: $17,560,734) Total left over: $4,546,480 (Cortez Masto: $3,925,976, Laxalt: $620,504) Happy Monday. What're you keeping an eye on as we close out the year? Let me know at mfernandez@politico.com and @madfernandez616 . Days until the 2023 election: 330 Days until the 2024 election: 694
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LEAVING THE PARTY — Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema changed her registration from Democrat to independent. She told POLITICO's Burgess Everett that she will not caucus with Republicans and suggested that she intends to vote the same way she has for four years in the Senate, so Democrats will likely still have a workable majority next term. Where we could see a big change, however, is if she runs for reelection in 2024 (she hasn't made an official announcement yet). There's no primary for those running outside of a recognized political party designation in Arizona. A candidate needs to collect a minimum number of signatures at a higher threshold than those running as a Democrat, Republican or Libertarian — 3 percent of the total registered unaffiliated voters. In 2022, that minimum was 43,492 for those running for the Senate. More people in Arizona are unaffiliated voters , making up 34 percent of those registered, compared to Democrats, who make up 31 percent of registered voters. Thirty-five percent of registered Arizona voters are Republicans. Realistically, it probably won't be too difficult for Sinema to get those signatures, should she run again. But if Democrats and Republicans put their own contenders into the mix, we could see a three-way general election. That could get a little messy if Sinema pulls voters away from the Democratic and Republican candidates. Speaking of potential contenders, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego , whose name has been floated around as a progressive primary challenge to Sinema when she was still a Democrat, is reportedly interviewing paid media firms for 2024. "I have never backed down from fighting for Arizonans," he said in a statement following her announcement. "And at a time when our nation needs leadership most, Arizona deserves a voice that won't back down in the face of struggle." And to be a little more explicit — he sent out a fundraising text later that day saying, "Yes, I'm thinking of running for Senate." On the Republican side, a potential three-way general election race does raise the stakes in Republicans' ongoing feud over candidate quality. After nominating candidates closely aligned with former President Donald Trump who sought to appeal to the GOP's right wing — Senate candidate Blake Masters and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake — Arizona Republicans lost those statewide races this year. Gov. Doug Ducey was courted by national Republicans to run in 2022, though he ultimately declined to do so and said earlier this year that he has no interest in running for Senate. Reps. David Schweikert and Andy Biggs are other names being discussed by party operatives in the state. LEGAL CORNER — While we're on the note of Arizona: Kari Lake filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to overturn the results of the gubernatorial race, which she lost by over 17,000 votes to Secretary of State and Democrat Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs. "If a judge won't declare her the winner, Lake wants an order requiring Maricopa County to re-do the gubernatorial election," The Arizona Republic's Stacey Barchenger and Robert Anglen write . "The lawsuit also references issues that were raised, and repeatedly debunked, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential contest and the subsequent Arizona Senate review of the Maricopa County election." Lake's not the only one who filed a suit on Friday. Along with the Republican National Committee, Republican Abe Hamadeh, who lost the Arizona attorney general race to Democrat Kris Hayes by just over 500 votes, "seeks to eliminate some votes he asserts were illegally tallied and include others he claims were improperly left out of the official total," The Arizona Republic's Ryan Randazzo reports . "The lawsuit specifically states that the candidate is not making claims of fraud or nefarious actions in the election, however. That stands in stark contrast to another election lawsuit filed Friday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Lake, who lost, makes claims of 'intentional misconduct' related to problems at the polls." The attorney general race headed to an automatic recount due to the close margin. He previously filed a similar action, which was dismissed because the election results weren't official yet. Republican Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem and AZ-03 candidate Jeff Zink, both of whom lost their races, filed a lawsuit on Friday as well, claiming the election was not "full, fair, and secure." THE LATINO VOTE — "In Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, Latinos have stuck with Democrats, and that has helped power the party's gains across a region where Latino population growth has exploded," NBC News' Natasha Korecki reports . "It belies a conventional narrative that Democrats were universally ceding Latino voters to the Republican Party, a story line repeated throughout the run-up to the Nov. 8 midterms." "A review of election results and exit polls, as well as interviews with campaign officials, data analysts and strategists point to a hardening phenomenon in the United States: Latino voters are exhibiting complexities that vary drastically from region to region and, in some cases, from state to state. While the Nov. 8 election data is yet to be finalized, and the Latino electorate's allegiance is the subject of endless debate, one major lesson for 2024 is that there are layers of nuance within the Latino vote that are difficult to capture in national polling." … RELATED: "The big Republican Latino realignment didn't happen in 2022. What now?" by The Washington Post's Dan Balz WHO'S NEXT? — More than a week after the Democratic caucus finalized most of its leadership positions, their campaign chief slot remains open, POLITICO's Nicholas Wu and Ally Mutnick report . Although the caucus voted to once again make the position appointed, incoming Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has given no public indication of whom he will pick, leaving the rest of the party guessing. There is some reason to hurry: Just five seats separate the two parties, and both have a clear shot at the next House majority. Candidate recruitment for 2024 can start right away, without having to wait for nationwide redistricting to shake out like in the last election cycle. 2024 WATCH — The Indiana Republican primary for governor is turning into one of the most crowded and competitive early contests of 2024, my colleague Adam Wren reports . The growing field is a sign of how big the Indiana GOP bench has grown, in a state where the party has controlled the governorship for two decades and currently holds more than 88 percent of all county-elected offices.
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