Van Hollen: DCCC will continue to fund candidates 'across the board'

Democrats will continue to financially support their candidates "across the board," their House campaign chief said Thursday.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), denied that the party would cut loose incumbents and candidates whose campaigns are flagging in order to put scarce resources elsewhere.

"No, we're continuing to invest in our candidates across the board," Van Hollen said on NPR. "We're bullish about their chances."

The DCCC had just over $39 million in cash on hand at the end of August, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, and while the committee will report having spent (and raised) millions more during the month of September, it's not clear whether that pool of cash will be able to stave off enough Democratic losses to keep Republicans from winning back the majority.

The DCCC has already begun to reprioritize some of its spending, according to The Hotline, by having cut back on advertising reservations in eight districts, seven of which are held by Democrats, for the penultimate week of the campaign.

Part of the challenge is the way Republicans have been able to spread the field with their candidates in an election cycle featuring GOP headwinds. Republicans like to boast that they've recruited more candidates than ever before this cycle, and that the mere challenge from those candidates has forced Democrats to sometimes spend money where they might not have had to otherwise.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had said earlier this year that GOP efforts meant as many as 100 seats were in play, a figure Van Hollen rejected on Thursday.

"I don't think there are 100 seats in play, but what we would like to do is just focus on the ones we know are the toughest races," he said.

But while the Maryland Democrat continued to project that Democrats would keep the majority in the House, he suggested that the number of seats in play is far from insignificant, and well above the range of 39 seats Republicans need to take back the majority in the House.

"We have about 40 in what we call our 'Frontline' members. You then have a number of open Democratic seats. And then you have a number of seats where the Democrats are on offense," he said.