POLITICO- By ROBIN BRAVENDER – Democrats are winning the so-called War on Women, at least when it comes to fundraising.

The 12 Democratic women running for Senate this fall have raised a combined $110 million, more than twice as much as the $42 million their Republican opponents have raised.

Their cash advantage is fueled by liberal donors looking to secure seats in some of the hottest swing states, cash funneled through EMILY’s List — which earmarks donations to pro-choice Democratic women — and donors fired up over reproductive rights controversies.

Labor unions, human rights groups, abortion rights advocates and environmentalists are also all ponying up from their political action committees, especially in states like Massachusetts and Wisconsin that could decide the balance of power in the Senate.

Pro-choice women’s groups reported a surge in fundraising earlier this year after GOP attacks on Planned Parenthood funding and a comment from Rush Limbaugh about a female law student shifted momentum in their direction.

Since then, the fight over contraception has dropped from the headlines, but “women have not forgotten the attacks on Planned Parenthood; this is integral to their lives,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “They aren’t going to forget because it’s not on the front page of the paper today. They are remembering and they’re responding to that.”

It’s not just Democrats who are piling up cash. Republican women running for Senate in Hawaii, New Mexico and Connecticut have also outraised their opponents.

Combined, the 18 women running for Senate have raised more than $135 million this cycle.

Women could hold more seats in both chambers of Congress next year than ever before. In the Senate, women could add as many as seven seats to their current record high of 17. In the House, a record number of 154 women have already won their primaries this year, with 25 women still alive in primary races, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Elizabeth Warren, running against Republican Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, is leading the way after raising more than $25 million in the most expensive Senate race in the country. Brown, for his part, has raised $17 million.

Warren received nearly $1 million from EMILY’s List, which overall has channeled more than $4 million to Democratic female candidates so far this cycle. The group has donated more than $500,000 each to Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada.

“There is clearly an appetite amongst donors to elect good strong Democratic women who share their values,” said EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock. “We have seen an increase of more than a million members now since the Republicans began their war on women 18 months ago. That enthusiasm is reflecting very much in the totals that these candidates are posting.”

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