The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised almost double what its Republican counterpart did in the first quarter of the year, according to fundraising reports filed Friday.

The DSCC raked in $13.7 million in the first three months of the year, including $8.8 million of that total last month.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $7 million in the three-month period and more than $3.6 million in March.

The NRSC ended March with about $3.5 million on hand, compared with the $9.5 million the Democratic committee showed in the bank.

However, the DSCC still carried $6 million in debt from the previous cycle at the end of March, while the NRSC was the only one of the four Congressional campaign committees to report being debt-free.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2008 Senate elections,” DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) said in a statement. “The support for Democratic candidates and ideas is enormous and is propelling us to a big lead in fundraising.”

The fundraising and political arms of both the House and Senate Democrats realized record money totals in the first quarter of 2007 — the first time the party has been in the majority in both chambers since 1994.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reported last week that it raised $19 million from Jan. 1 to March 31, and the committee showed $9.8 million left in the bank.

Republican fundraising lagged behind the Democratic committees on both sides of Capitol Hill.

The National Republican Congressional Committee raised $15.8 million and had $2.5 million on hand.

The NRSC’s first-quarter total was less than what the committee took in during the same period in 2005, but was more than the NRSC raised in the first quarter of the 2004 election cycle.

The NRSC raised $9.86 million in the first quarter of 2005 and $5.5 million in the first quarter of 2003.

The NRCC’s total for the period was less than what it took in during the beginning of the previous two cycles.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee raised more than $25.5 million in the first quarter and raised close to $7.9 million in March. The RNC ended March with $12.8 million on hand and had no debt.

The Democratic National Committee raised close to $15 million in the first quarter, including $5.3 million last month. The committee had $6.8 million in cash on hand and $3 million in remaining debt.