Just weeks before the November midterms, Jim Costa was feeling good. The five-term California House Democrat was about to face off with Republican candidate Johnny Tacherra, but he felt confident enough in his chances that he was willingly giving away thousands of dollars from his campaign fund to fellow Democrats who—it was thought—needed the money to win more-competitive races.

Costa got a nasty surprise on election night; when the polls closed, his race was too close to call. It stayed that way for two weeks, and Costa had to wait until Nov. 19 to be declared victor—besting Tacherra by only 1,319 votes.

Costa’s preelection spending decisions are hardly in keeping with a candidate expecting such a razor-thin contest: From Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, Costa doled out about $51,000 to other campaigns—his team even listed a $500 donation on Election Day to the Lake Yosemite Sailing Association, according to his report. And he likely had much, much more money available that he neither gave away nor spent himself. He had more than $641,000 cash on hand when the filing period ended on Nov. 24. (Costa’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.)

But if Costa was caught off-guard by his near-miss, he had plenty of company. Newly filed FEC reports reveal that in the run-up to the elections, a host of Democrats from liberal districts were making confident choices with their campaign coffers, oblivious to the near-defeats they were about to face.

Along with Costa, Democratic Reps. Jerry McNerney and John Garamendi of California also narrowly escaped defeat, as did Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York. But none of them scraped the bottom of their respective war chests in the run-up to the election.

McNerney finished the cycle with nearly $214,000 left in cash, and he reported giving nearly $30,000 in contributions to other committees in the race’s final weeks. Garamendi reported nearly $200,000 cash on hand at the end of the period, and Slaughter had more than $351,000 left.

The unspent money underscores Democrats’ surprise at the magnitude of Republicans’ midterm success, especially in states and districts that were seen as solidly blue territory. “I don’t think they saw it coming at all,” said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book. “I bet they won’t do that again.”

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/fresh-evidence-of-democrats-2014-shock-20141210