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5 takeaways from 2025’s end-of-year campaign finance reports

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5 takeaways from 2025’s end-of-year campaign finance reports

President Trump stockpiled millions into his super PAC, while a handful of GOP groups outraised their Democratic counterparts in the last stretch of 2025 as Republicans brace for a midterm cycle shaping up to be much like the anti-Trump 2018 midterms. 

Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has more than $300 million in the bank to start off 2026, according to recent campaign filings, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) outraised the Democrats, who are working to pay off debt from the 2024 cycle. 

Yet there are some bright spots for Democrats, too: Many of the party’s Senate candidates have outperformed their Republican contenders as the party looks to make inroads in the upper chamber.

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Here are five takeaways from the last campaign filing reports of 2025: 

Trump stockpiles millions 

The president’s super PAC is starting off the year with $304 million — an impressive sum of money that demonstrates Republicans will not be without resources as they look to keep their narrow House majority and retain control of the Senate. 

The super PAC’s latest filing, which covers Dec. 23 through Dec. 31, showed the president received $7.5 million from the pro-Trump dark money group Securing American Greatness Inc. and $1 million from businessman and Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly, among others. 

Other prominent figures who have donated to Trump’s super PAC over the past year include $12.5 million each from OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Bockman and his wife, $11 million from entrepreneur and investor Konstantin Sokolov, and $4 million from defense contractor chief executive Michelle D’Souza.  

A number of prominent businesspeople and donors have given to Trump or his aligned entities, particularly for his construction of the East Wing ballroom, as different industries have looked to curry favor with the president. 

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RNC holds large cash-on-hand advantage over DNC  

The RNC outraised the Democratic National Committee in 2025, $172 million compared to $146 million. In December, the RNC edged out its Democratic counterparts at $16 million to roughly $13 million. 

The Republican Party also starts off 2026 with a nearly $100 million cash-on-hand advantage over Democrats: The GOP has $95 million in the bank to start off the year, while Democrats have $14 million cash on hand, in addition to close to $18 million in debt. 

Democrats have steadily been trying to pay off debt that was accrued during former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in 2024. Donors in the aftermath of the 2024 election also curbed their spending to different groups amid frustration over how the presidential cycle played out and as the party looked to reset itself heading into 2026. 

Across the board, however, GOP groups like the House Republican and Senate Republican campaign arms posted larger 2025 hauls than their Democratic counterparts. However, the cash on hand for the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms are nearly equal to or have narrowly surpassed their GOP counterparts.

Democratic Senate candidates largely outraise GOP challengers 

If there’s one financial silver lining for Democrats right now, it’s that the party’s Senate challengers in competitive races have largely outraised their Republican contenders. 

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In Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — seen as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for reelection this cycle — raised close to $10 million between October and December from his campaign. He starts off 2026 with close to $26 million in the bank.  

His GOP opponents trail far behind. Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley’s campaign raised $1.1 million and has $2.1 million cash on hand. Rep. Buddy Carter’s campaign (R-Ga.) raised $1.7 million, which includes a $1 million loan to himself, and starts off this year with nearly $4.2 million. Rep. Mike Collins’s campaign (R-Ga.) raised about $825,000 and has $2.3 million cash on hand. 

In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) campaign raised $7.3 million in the last quarter of 2025 and has nearly $10 million in the bank. Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) campaign raised $1.5 million between October and December and starts off the year with close to $6 million in the bank. 

Musk starts spending ahead of midterms 

Elon Musk has resumed pumping money toward GOP groups heading into the midterms, less than a year after he signaled he would pull back from political spending. The Tesla CEO gave $5 million each to two super PACs helmed by House Republican and Senate Republican leadership. 

All told, Musk has given $20 million to the two political groups in 2025, highlighting how the former Trump adviser is poised to play an important role again in the upcoming election cycle for Republicans.  

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Musk spent millions in last year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court races, yet the liberal candidate handily won the vacant seat on the state’s high court. However, his spending helped level the playing field for Republicans.  

While his spending will help the GOP, Democrats are sure to seize on his involvement, too. In the past, they have featured Musk in their advertising, such as showcasing his chainsaw-wielding appearance during last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in an effort to boost turnout among their voters.

Filings offer insight into contested Senate primaries  

The campaign finance filings also offer some clues about the fundraising strength of candidates in contested Senate primaries.  

Progressive oyster farmer Graham Platner, who was mired in controversy last year over past social media posts, raised $4.6 million in the last quarter of 2025 from his campaign and has $3.7 million in the bank. Meanwhile, centrist Maine Gov. Janet Mills’s (D) campaign raised $2.7 million in the last quarter and starts off this year with $1.3 million. 

In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) and state Rep. James Talarico (D) posted similar fundraising hauls — $6.5 million and nearly $6.9 million, respectively. Most of Crockett’s haul came from transfers from her House campaign. Talarico’s campaign also posted a cash on hand advantage — $7.1 million to Crockett’s $5.6 million.  

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Finance

Blackstone backs Neysa in up to $1.2B financing as India pushes to build domestic AI infrastructure | TechCrunch

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Blackstone backs Neysa in up to .2B financing as India pushes to build domestic AI infrastructure | TechCrunch

Neysa, an Indian AI infrastructure startup, has secured backing from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone as it scales domestic compute capacity amid India’s push to build homegrown AI capabilities.

Blackstone and co-investors, including Teachers’ Venture Growth, TVS Capital, 360 ONE Assets, and Nexus Venture Partners, have agreed to invest up to $600 million of primary equity in Neysa, giving Blackstone a majority stake, Blackstone and Neysa told TechCrunch. The Mumbai-headquartered startup also plans to raise an additional $600 million in debt financing as it expands GPU capacity, a sharp increase from the $50 million it had raised previously.

The deal comes as demand for AI computing surges globally, creating supply constraints for specialized chips and data center capacity needed to train and run large models. Newer AI-focused infrastructure providers — often referred to as “neo-clouds” — have emerged to bridge that gap by offering dedicated GPU capacity and faster deployment than traditional hyperscalers, particularly for enterprises and AI labs with specific regulatory, latency, or customisation requirements.

Neysa operates in this emerging segment, positioning itself as a provider of customized, GPU-first infrastructure for enterprises, government agencies, and AI developers in India, where demand for local compute is still at an early but rapidly expanding stage.

“A lot of customers want hand-holding, and a lot of them want round-the-clock support with a 15-minute response and a couple of our resolutions. And so those are the kinds of things that we provide that some of the hyperscalers don’t,” said Neysa co-founder and CEO Sharad Sanghi.

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Nesya co-founder and CEO Sharad SanghiImage Credits:Neysa

Ganesh Mani, a senior managing director at Blackstone Private Equity, said his firm estimates that India currently has fewer than 60,000 GPUs deployed — and it expects the figure to scale up nearly 30 times to more than two million in the coming years.

That expansion is being driven by a combination of government demand, enterprises in regulated sectors such as financial services and healthcare that need to keep data local, and AI developers building models within India, Mani told TechCrunch. Global AI labs, many of which count India among their largest user bases, are also increasingly looking to deploy computing capacity closer to users to reduce latency and meet data requirements.

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The investment also builds on Blackstone’s broader push into data center and AI infrastructure globally. The firm has previously backed large-scale data centre platforms such as QTS and AirTrunk, as well as specialized AI infrastructure providers including CoreWeave in the U.S. and Firmus in Australia.

Neysa develops and operates GPU-based AI infrastructure that enables enterprises, researchers, and public sector clients to train, fine-tune, and deploy AI models locally. The startup currently has about 1,200 GPUs live and plans to sharply scale that capacity, targeting deployments of more than 20,000 GPUs over time as customer demand accelerates.

“We are seeing a demand that we are going to more than triple our capacity next year,” Sanghi said. “Some of the conversations we are having are at a fairly advanced stage; if they go through, then we could see it sooner rather than later. We could see in the next nine months.”

Sanghi told TechCrunch that the bulk of the new capital will be used to deploy large-scale GPU clusters, including compute, networking and storage, while a smaller portion will go toward research and development and building out Neysa’s software platforms for orchestration, observability, and security.

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Neysa aims to more than triple its revenue next year as demand for AI workloads accelerates, with ambitions to expand beyond India over time, Sanghi said. Founded in 2023, the startup employs 110 people across offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai.

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Why doing everything right no longer protects Canadian families from financial triage

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Why doing everything right no longer protects Canadian families from financial triage
Two young children upset as parents fight at home.

It’s 2026, and most Canadian households aren’t asking how to get ahead — they’re asking how to avoid falling further behind. Fuelled by a quiet frustration and the common refrain behind this anxiety: If I’m doing everything right, why does it still feel like I’m losing ground?

For Stacy Yanchuk Oleksy, CEO of Money Mentors, that sentiment shows up daily in conversations she and her colleagues have with Canadians. These aren’t people who spend wildly; these are Canadians who have already cut spending, already tightened their budget and already done all the tasks required for responsible money management.

As Yanchuk Oleksy pointed out during an interview with Money.ca, the anxiety illustrates a subtle shift in how Canadians are handling the ongoing pressure of higher living costs, where families once talked about budgeting, now the discussion is brinkmanship — deciding what can’t be paid this month, not what should be paid.

These are the households already living lean — and still slipping.

For years, personal finance advice centred on discipline: Track your spending, pay down debt, avoid lifestyle creep.

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But many families have reached a point where discipline alone no longer moves the needle.

“For households already stretched, stability just means the pressure isn’t getting worse — not that it’s getting better,” explains Yanchuk Oleksy.

With interest rates staying elevated longer than expected and everyday costs still stubbornly high, the margin for error has disappeared. Even small disruptions — a car repair, dental bill or temporary loss of overtime — can tip a household from “managing” to “making trade-offs.”

That’s when budgeting turns into triage.

Read more: Canadians spent $183B on dining and clothes in 2024. Prioritize these 4 critical investments instead and watch your net worth skyrocket

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In practice, financial triage means deciding which obligations get paid first — and which get deferred.

“Families cut out anything non-essential — less food in the grocery cart, no dining out, pulling kids from activities, postponing travel — while still relying on credit to cover basics like utilities, school costs, or transportation,” says Yanchuk Oleksy. “Further down the line,” she said, “it looks like parents deciding which credit card or line of credit gets paid — and which one doesn’t.”

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Pinnacle Financial Partners Conference: CEO touts merger culture, 9%-11% loan growth, $250M synergies

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Pinnacle Financial Partners Conference: CEO touts merger culture, 9%-11% loan growth, 0M synergies
Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) executives emphasized cultural alignment, integration planning, and continued growth expectations following the company’s recently completed merger, during a conference fireside chat featuring President and CEO Kevin Blair and CFO Jamie Gregory. Culture int
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