More than two-thirds of the Democrats’ cash went to a dozen presidential battlegrounds critical to any Clinton victory. The biggest beneficiaries were Florida, which has taken in close to $3.5 million, and Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have each received more than $2 million.
In each of those states, the funds from the national party have made a difference, erasing deficits in federal contributions against the respective Republican state parties.
The money followed a legal but circuitous route turbocharged by the 2014 ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down Watergate-era limits on the combined amount one person could donate to all federal candidates and parties in an election cycle.