Daily Kos Elections is pleased to present our first quarterly fundraising charts of the 2020 election cycle for both the House and the Senate.
The fundraising period that just concluded, of course, ended in a way that no campaign could have anticipated when it began on New Year's Day. While the coronavirus pandemic has altered how candidates raise money—in-person events are a thing of the past—we don't yet know how it will impact bottom-line totals as candidates switch their focus to online fundraising. And given that stay-at-home measures were ordered toward the end of the quarter, it may be several more months before we really have insight.
Now, to the numbers. Vulnerable House Democrats have been raising money all cycle at a pace that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago, and our data shows that Democratic incumbents remain in very good shape. Seven Democrats holding competitive seats took in over $1 million for this quarter alone, while another five broke $900,000. An additional 12 Democrats who flipped a GOP-held seat in 2018 raised more than $600,000.
Republicans, meanwhile, have struggled in several of the districts that they lost last cycle and badly want to win back now. The most telling example of the lopsided fundraising battle may be in New York’s 19th District, a Hudson Valley seat that swung from 52-46 Obama to 51-44 Trump.
Democrat Antonio Delgado unseated Republican John Faso in an expensive race last cycle; the new incumbent raised $758,000 to defend his seat during the first quarter and ended March with $2.65 million on hand. Fashion designer Ola Hawatmeh, who had by far the most money on the GOP side, took in just $59,000 from donors and self-funded another $201,000, and she had $254,000 in the bank. However, that was considerably better than the $14,000 that attorney and Army veteran Kyle Van De Water had on hand.
This isn’t the only competitive House district where Republicans are struggling. In Minnesota’s 2nd District, a suburban Twin Cities seat that narrowly voted for both Obama and Trump, freshman Democratic Rep. Angie Craig ended March with $2 million in the bank while Marine veteran Tyler Kistner led the GOP field with just shy of $100,000 on hand.
In Utah’s 4th District, which favored both Mitt Romney and Trump, Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams had $2.2 million on hand compared to the $156,000 that former state party official Kathleen Anderson had to spend ahead of her crowded June primary. And in Washington’s 8th District, a seat that narrowly backed Obama and Hillary Clinton, Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier held a $1.87 million to $37,000 cash on hand lead over former Amazon project manager Jesse Jensen.
Of course, the GOP does have some strong fundraisers. Republican Mike Garcia and Democrat Christy Smith each took in just over $1 million ahead of the May 12 special election for California’s 25th District, and Garcia held a $447,000 to $357,000 cash on hand. Republican Wesley Hunt also hauled in a hefty $874,000 in his bid against Democratic incumbent Lizzie Fletcher in Texas’ 7th District, but he only had $432,000 on hand after winning his primary last month. Fletcher also took in a larger $1 million for the quarter, and she had a huge $2.69 million in the bank.
Overall, though, the big picture for House Republicans remains bad in plenty of competitive seats. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy himself reportedly told his GOP colleagues at the end of January that Democrats "are kicking our ass" in fundraising, and our new data shows that remains just as true now as it did back then.
The fundraising battle for the Senate is more even, though Team Blue still has some very strong candidates. Team Blue's fundraising all-star once again was Arizona's Mark Kelly, who outraised appointed Sen. Martha McSally $10.9 million to $6.3 million and had a $19.7 million to $10.2 million cash on hand lead.
Democrats also outraised Republicans in Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, and South Carolina; Alaska’s Al Gross, who is seeking the Democratic nod while still remaining an independent, also outraised GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. All these GOP incumbents still had more money than their opponents at the close of March, though.
And for the third quarter in a row, the top GOP challenger, and the only one who outraised a Democratic incumbent, was Michigan's John James. James outpaced Democratic Sen. Gary Peters $4.8 million to $4 million, and Peters had just a small $8.8 million to $8.6 million cash on hand lead.
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