The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised more than $9 million in April, breaking its previous fundraising records for the month. Still, that’s about a million dollars less than what the group’s Republican counterpart raised last month.

Republicans are defending two House seats in two closely watched upcoming special elections in Montana and Georgia. The DCCC has invested in both of those races, but not as much as some Democrats would like. 

For the first four months of the year, the House Democrats’ campaign arm raised nearly $40 million, according to numbers obtained first by Roll Call.

About half of that money was raised online. That online haul is more than the committee raised online during all of 2015. So far this year, the average online contribution has been $18, with 156,000 first-time online donors. The committee raised $7 million from traditional phone and direct mail solicitations. 

The National Republican Congressional Committee raised $46 million during the first four months of the year. The committee raised more than $10 million in April — the fourth month in a row it’s raised that much. 

With Republicans trying to hold on to their House majority, Democrats are largely on offense this year in House races. They need to gain 24 seats to win the majority. The DCCC is especially targeting the 23 seats currently held by Republicans that Hillary Clinton carried last fall and looking to expand the map to other districts where President Donald Trump underperformed other Republicans. 

“The DCCC is actively building the largest battleground in a decade, and that’s a testament to the grassroots energy that we’re witnessing every day, in every corner of America,” DCCC spokesman Tyler Law said in a statement. 

Committee fundraising is just one part of a complex campaign system, with increasing sources of outside spending. Therefore, committee fundraising doesn’t always predict electoral success.