WASHINGTON — Quarterly congressional fundraising reports were due with the Federal Elections Commission on Monday. Highlights from this round include:
- Tom Emmer’s big fundraising lead in the 6th District. The former gubernatorial candidate has $200,000 on hand after his first month in the race, and the two other declared GOPers (John Pederson, with $32,000 and Rhonda Sivarajah, with $16,000) don’t come close.
- A big quarter for Rep. John Kline. The 2nd District Republican congressman raised $483,000 between April and June, his largest fundraising quarter ever. He has a huge cash-on-hand advantage over his DFL challenger.
- Large numbers in the U.S. Senate race.Sen. Al Franken raised nearly $2 million and has $3 million on hand, and one of his Republican challengers, businessman Mike McFadden, brought in $760,000 in one month.
Here’s a breakdown of Minnesota congressional fundraising numbers from April to June, as reported to the FEC:
U.S. Senate: Any race with Sen. Al Franken in it will be an expensive one: He has a big fundraising base and will likely raise multiple millions of dollars every quarter between now and Election Day. He raised $1.97 million this quarter and has more than $3 million on hand.
Franken has two Republican challengers so far, businessman Mike McFadden and state Rep. Jim Abeler (who has yet to announce his numbers). In his first month in the campaign, McFadden raised $764,000 and has more than $740,000 banked. To put that in context, the GOP’s 2012 Senate candidate, Kurt Bills, raised $950,000 during the entire campaign.
1st District: Rep. Tim Walz raised $202,000 in the first quarter and he has $173,000 on hand. State Rep. Mike Benson announced his challenge to Walz on June 17 but as of Tuesday morning, had not filed fundraising papers with the FEC.
2nd District: Both 2nd District Rep. John Kline and challenger Mike Obermueller announced their fundraising numbers on the afternoon of July 3, so you’ll be excused if you missed them over the long weekend. Kline raised nearly $483,000 — his best fundraising quarter ever, according to his staff — and has $1.1 million on hand. Obermueller brought in $130,000 and has $93,000 in the bank.
Democrats want to make this race competitive and outside groups like the DCCC and the liberal House Majority PAC have tentatively said they’ll spend against Kline this cycle (in fact, the House Majority PAC already spent $50,000 on web ads against Kline last month). Kline, though, is clearly winning the fundraising fight so far (as you would expect an incumbent congressman to do), and his 11-to-1 cash on hand advantage is sizable.
3rd District: Rep. Erik Paulsen raised $496,000 in the second quarter, the biggest fundraising haul among active House candidates in Minnesota. He has nearly $1.3 million on hand, and no Democratic challenger yet.
4th District: Rep. Betty McCollum had her lightest fundraising quarter in at least two years, bringing in $59,000 between April and June. She has $62,000 in the bank in a safe Democratic district.
5th District: Rep. Keith Ellison raised $194,000 and has $140,000 on hand, in a district as safe as McCollum’s.
6th District: Tom Emmer has a big fundraising advantage over the two other declared Republican candidates looking to replace Rep. Michele Bachmann: Emmer raised $225,000 in June, to Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah’s $19,000 and state Sen. John Pederson’s $35,000. All three got in the race last month, though Emmer was first, announcing his campaign on June 5. Of the $205,000 he has in the bank, about $68,000 is earmarked specifically for the general election. Politics in Minnesota has more on the details of the reports.
For those interested, Bachmann and her assumed DFL challenger Jim Graves exited the race about a month into this fundraising quarter, but they still reported big numbers to the FEC. Bachmann brought in $833,000 and has $1.8 million on hand (she transferred about $140,000 to her presidential campaign and used another $120,000 to pay legal fees). Graves raised $231,000 and has $126,000 in the bank. The candidates can do a lot with that money: Donate it to other candidates or parties, give it to charity, return it to donors, bank it for future runs, etc.
7th District: Rep. Collin Peterson brought in $94,000 and has $205,000 on hand for a potential run for re-election next year. Republicans want to make the 7th District competitive but have yet to field a candidate. Peterson, 69, has said he will decide whether to seek re-election over the winter, as he’s done in the past.
8th District: Rep. Rick Nolan raised about $135,000 and has $205,000 on hand for re-election. He still has to pay off about $37,000 in 2012 debts, but that’s down from more than $50,000 in April, and more than half of it’s owed to either Nolan himself (for campaign expense reimbursements) or his campaign manager-turned-chief of staff, Mike Misterek.
Republican businessman Stewart Mills entered the 8th District race on June 26 and didn’t file a fundraising report with the FEC.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dhenry