CUNA Candidates Win Most Races

CUNA was on track Wednesday afternoon to see the vast majority of its 398 favored candidates elected to the U.S. House and U.S. Senate despite hitting a speed bump in New York.

CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said CUNA and state leagues donated or spent $6.6 million in support of 398 congressional candidates in this year’s election cycle. As of Wednesday morning, 98% of its candidates had won.

“We congratulate the credit union champions who won Tuesday night, and we look forward to working closely with them in the next Congress on policies that will allow credit unions to increase services to members and communities,” Nussle said in a news release Wednesday.

Among the 54 candidates CUNA supported for open seats, as of Wednesday afternoon it had won 37 and lost four races.

The defeats were:

• Republican J.D. Vance, who defeated Democrat Tim Ryan for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat.
• Republican George Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman for U.S. House in New York’s 3rd District.
• Republican John James, who defeated Democrat Carl Marlinga in Michigan’s 10th District.
• Democrat Chris Deluzio, who defeated Republican Jeremy Shaffer in Pennsylvania’s 17th District.

In eight races, the CUNA candidate was leading.

The five open-seat contests in which CUNA’s candidate was trailing included:

• Republican John Duarte, who was leading against Democrat Adam Gray in California’s 13th District.
• Democrat Yadira Caraveo, who was leading against Republican Barbara Kirkmeyer in Colorado’s 8th district.
• Democrat Eric Sorensen, who was leading against Republican Esther Joy King in Illinois’ 17th District.

New York presented a special challenge for its five favored candidates for open seats in the U.S. House.

CUNA’s candidate, Republican Nick Langworthy, won against Democrat Max Della Pia in New York’s 23rd District, but its candidate, Democrat Robert Zimmerman lost to Republican George Santos in New York’s 3rd District.

Among undecided races, its candidate Republican Marc Molinaro was leading in NY-19.

However, CUNA’s two other New York candidates were trailing:

• Republican Anthony D’Esposito, who was leading against Democrat Laura Gillen in New York’s 4th District.
• Democrat Pat Ryan, who was leading against Republican Colin Schmitt in New York’s 18th District.

Trey Hawkins, CUNA’s deputy chief advocacy officer for political affairs, said the number of open seats supported by CUNA and its allies is unusual among political action committees representing business groups.

“Unlike many industry PACs, which tend to shy away from open seats, we’ve always leaned into open seats because they give our credit unions an opportunity to meet with and vet which candidates best understand credit unions, and a chance to engage them on our priorities,” Hawkins said. “Even when our supported candidate doesn’t prevail, our experience has been that our willingness to engage and educate candidates on credit union priorities pays off in terms of advocacy wins down the road.”

Several high-profile races remained undecided Wednesday afternoon.

In one of the closest Senate contests, CUNA has endorsed U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who received $5,000 from CUNA for his re-election bid against Republican Herschel Walker, who was endorsed by Trump. As of Wednesday afternoon, Warnock held a slight lead but was below the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff, which would be held Dec. 6.

Another CUNA favorite, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), was trailing slightly Wednesday afternoon in her reelection bid against Republican Adam Laxalt with 77% of the vote counted.

CUNA gave Cortez Masto one of its largest donations, $10,000, and NAFCU gave her $1,000. She also received a combined $6,000 from the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA). Laxalt has received no donations from the banking or credit union groups.

A CU Times analysis of data from OpenSecrets.org found 767 congressional candidates received donations from at least one of the four groups (CUNA, NAFCU, ABA and ICBA), and 75% of the candidates received donations from both banking and credit union groups.

The 350 Democrats received $1.4 million from the credit union groups, accounting for 54% of their donations, and $823,500 from the banking groups, accounting for 32% of their donations.

The 417 Republicans received $1.2 million from the credit union groups, accounting for 46% of their donations, and $1.7 million from the banking groups, accounting for 67% of their donations.

Both CUNA and NAFCU leaders have said their groups are non-partisan.

“We don’t look at members of Congress as Republican or Democrat, but whether they support credit unions,” NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger said. “Regardless of who controls Congress, we will continue to work hard on behalf of all credit unions.”