Ten representatives are on pace to overspend their 2018 budgets, thanks to officially funded efforts to reach constituents before Election Day.
The year's top three spenders, led by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), each face competitive elections this fall. Herrera Beutler spent 52.5 percent of her budget by the second quarter's end. Amid a Democratic push to flip her seat, Herrera Beutler's office spent 20.8 percent of its expenses on printing and sending franked mail to constituents.
Republican Reps. Ted Budd (N.C.) and Jason Lewis (Minn.), who also face competitive races this fall, each spent 52 percent of their budgets in the first half of the year. That includes a whopping 26.7 percent and 31.1 percent, respectively, spent on mailings.
The average representative spent 41.5 percent of his or her budget during that time and only 4.8 percent on printing and franking.
Because franked mailing to constituents are greatly restricted in the 90 days before the general election, some vulnerable members spend big on mailings in the spring and summer before a big election.
Six other representatives — Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) (whose mailing expenses soared following the Parkland high school shooting in his district last winter), Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) — also spent the majority of their annual budgets by the end of the second quarter. Soto, who claims the fourth spot overall, is the only one of the top 10 spenders with below-average franking costs.
