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The Political Edge: First Quarter Fundraising Roundup

Monday was the filing deadline for presidential, Senate, and House candidates to submit their first quarter fundraising reports to the FEC. Although some candidates had already announced their totals, the release of the full reports provides extra clarity about how the candidates are performing. With the filings now publicly available, national pundits have begun publishing analysis of the reports for races up and down the ticket. In this week’s Political Edge, we take a look at the best news nuggets on the first fundraising reports of the 2020 election cycle.

Presidential

AR/Intel compiled the latest fundraising totals of the 2020 Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had a strong opening quarter, pulling in $18.2M worth of contributions. He was followed closely by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who brought in $12M, and Beto O’Rourke ($9.37M). President Trump, meanwhile, brought in $7.3M in individual contributions and another $22M from PACs and other political committees for a total of $30.3M in the first quarter. Below are several other notable bits of information on 2020 fundraising.

  • The Associated Press notes that Democratic presidential candidates raised about $75 million during the first quarter of the 2020 election, less than the party did during the same period in the 2008 election (that year eight candidates collectively raised over $80 million).

  • According to CNN, “of the 16 Democratic candidates who filed first-quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission, half raised $3 million or less from donors in the first three months of the year.”

  • The New York Times pointed out that Sen. Elizabeth Warren spent nearly 87 cents of every dollar she raised. She brought in $6M and spent about $5.2M hiring 160 people and getting campaign infrastructure set up on Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

  • Vox looked at the number of contributions each candidate received that were “small dollar” ($200 or less). Sanders led in this department (80%) followed by Warren (70%). Pete Buttigieg raised 64% of his haul from small donations, while former Rep. Beto O’Rourke got 59%. Sen. Kamala Harris got 39% of her total from small donations and Sen. Cory Booker got 16%.

  • An analysis from BuzzFeed found that “about 1,600 donors have given more than $200 to multiple Democratic presidential candidates this year, with the largest overlap existing among donors who gave to both Kamala Harris and at least one other campaign.”

Senate

As we did with the 2020 Democrats, AR/Intel pulled together the top line fundraising numbers for Senate incumbents who are up for reelection next year as well as their announced challengers. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) raised the most among incumbents facing a reelection in 2020, bringing in $2.13M. He is followed by Sen. Martha McSally ($2.1M) and Sen. Cory Gardner ($2M). Sen. John Cornyn has the largest war chest at the end of the first quarter with $7.4M on hand.

OpenSecrets provided some additional context for what these fundraising totals mean in what are expected to be competitive Senate races.

  • ARIZONA: “Sen. Martha McSally had a strong first quarter, raising $2.1 million, but her likely opponent has much more. Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, took in $4.1 million, a massive first quarter haul for a Senate candidate that even surpasses several presidential candidates. Nearly 38 percent of Kelly’s money came from small contributions under $200, compared to 34 percent for McSally. With Rep. Ruben Gallego declining to challenge Kelly in the primary, the 2020 matchup is all but set, allowing both candidates to raise as much as possible.”

  • ALABAMA: Doug Jones “raised more than $1.6 million in the first quarter, leaving him with $3.1 million cash on hand. Just 14 percent of Jones’ funds came from small contributions under $200, while 26 percent came from PACs — a stark departure from his small dollar dominance in 2017. To kick off 2019, Jones took money from several fellow Democrats’ PACs, including $5,000 from presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) leadership PAC. Most of his PAC money came from corporations and trade associations. With Jones looking particularly vulnerable, several high-profile candidates are expected to compete in the Republican primary. Rep. Bradley Byrne has raised the most, collecting nearly $2.1 million, much of which came from his House campaign and a brand new joint fundraising committee. That kind of money is unprecedented for Byrne, who has never raised as much as $2 million while in his safe House seat.”

  • COLORADO: “Though Democratic groups say they are going to take down Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado, only one significant challenger has emerged so far. Meanwhile, the Republican incumbent took in a whopping $2 million in the first quarter Just 2 percent of Gardner’s funds came from small donors, while one-third came from PACs. That could create a fundraising conundrum, as PACs are subject to strict contribution limits while small donors can continue to give throughout the cycle without hitting the individual limit. Gardner’s challenger, former Colorado state senator Mike Johnston, raised a whopping $1.8 million, none of which came from PACs but just $19,783 from small donors. That haul gives Johnston a big head start over other Democrats who want to challenge for the seat.”

House

Due to strong fundraising in 2018, Democrats were able to pick up 43 House seats on their way back to the majority. Many in the media wondered if these freshman Democrats would be able to sustain their fundraising advantage through the 2020 cycle. With that in mind, Politico took a look at how the freshmen performed in their first fundraising quarter as a sitting member of Congress.

  • “Out of the 43 freshman Democrats being targeted by Republicans heading into 2020, only eight posted numbers less than $300,000, according to a POLITICO analysis. No freshman Democrats were outraised by Republican challengers who have declared at this point, though many more are expected to jump in later in the year.”

  • “Freshman Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) pulled in the highest figure among the targeted frontline Democrats, a total of $874,000 — more than triple the average for all House candidates. The next top fundraisers are Reps. Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Joe Cunningham (D-SC), Katie Hill (D-CA), Max Rose (D-NY) and Lizzie Pannell Fletcher (D-TX), who each raised more than a half-million dollars.”

  • “Of the 31 GOP incumbents targeted by Democrats, only 15 raised more than $300,000, showing a potential weakness ahead of 2020.”

  • So far, three Republican incumbents have been outraised by Democratic challengers: Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Chris Collins (R-NY), and Doug LaMalfa (R-CA).

  • Two incumbent Democrats have so far been outraised by challengers from their own party: Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA)

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