Tag: 2Q 2009 Fundraising

House 2Q 2009 Fundraising Roundup

The second quarter reporting deadline for congressional candidates has now come and gone, so it’s time for SSP to gather up all the noteworthy fundraising numbers for 2010’s hot (and not-so-hot) House races.

Here’s the full chart, but if you see anything we missed, let us know in the comments:

A few quick notes:

  • The average amount raised by a Frontline participant was $278K, an improvement over the first quarter, when the average amount raised was $259K.
  • The Frontline member with the phattest second quarter haul was Jim Himes’ impressive $518K. The weakest? For the second quarter in a row, it’s Carol Shea-Porter and her $120K raised. Jeez Louise.
  • You may vaguely recall that the NRCC started their own copycat version of the DCCC’s Frontline program, titled the “Patriot Program“. Let’s take a look at their first ten participants, a batch that they finally rolled out in May (Lungren, Calvert, Bilbray, Biggert, Cao, McCotter, Paulsen, Lance, Lee and Reichert). Their average haul was $301K each — a big jump from that group’s average 1Q take of $167K. It’s a small group so far, but it appears that the Patriot project is having some effect.
  • Democratic challengers who out-raised Republican incumbents: Ami Bera (CA-03), Stephen Pougnet (CA-45), John Carney (DE-AL), and Charlie Justice (FL-10). (However, it must be noted that Justice’s haul was far from impressive.)
  • Republican challengers who out-raised Democratic incumbents: Van Tran (CA-47), Greg Ball (NY-19), and Bill Russell (PA-12). (Caveat: Bill Russell is a BMW Direct client, which explains where most of his money is laundered coming from — and going to.)
  • Overall, I’m struck by the lackluster sums from many highly-touted candidates on both sides of the aisle. For the Dems, Michael Bond (IL-10), Charlie Justice (FL-10), Paula Flowers (TN-03), and Bill Hedrick (CA-44) in particular will need to step up their game. But many GOP candidates had pretty underwhelming quarters, too: Charles Djou (HI-01), Sid Leiken (OR-04), Jon Barela (NM-01) and Frank Guinta (NH-01) were all well south of $100K this quarter. (If you can’t out-raise Carol Shea-Porter, something is wrong with you.) No doubt the crappy economy is tightening the cash flow for many candidates right now, but these candidates will have to start finding the money sooner rather than later.