Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) on Thursday hosted a fundraiser that raised about $220,000 for 46 incumbent House Republicans, with the money coming mostly from Conaway and various political action committees.

Conaway, a professional accountant who is interested in a slot on the House Ways and Means Committee in the next Congress, contributed $50,000 from his re-election committee and leadership PAC at Thursday’s fundraiser, which was held at the Capitol Hill Club.

Conaway said fundraising for GOP House incumbents has improved significantly since July. House Republicans continue to lag behind their Democratic counterparts in fundraising, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reporting $54 million in cash on hand at the end of August, compared with $14.4 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“When we left [for recess] in July, people were kind of dragging their tail a little bit,” Conaway said Thursday in a brief telephone interview. “When we got back in September, there was a little bit better attitude going forward. September was a much different month than July had been, in terms of outlook.”

Conaway said much of the PAC money raised at his event on Thursday probably would have found its way into the campaign coffers of the 46 GOP incumbents who benefited, saying he just wanted to find a way to facilitate the donations and speed up the giving.