Sen. preps for outside attacks
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren enters her 2018 re-election campaign with a staggering $14.1 million war chest — a sign she’s gearing up for the outside groups that are expected to attack heavily to blunt her potential 2020 White House ambitions.
Warren raised $2.88 million in the last quarter of 2017, her campaign announced yesterday.
Overall, Warren hauled in $14.6 million last year — her best year of fundraising by far since 2012, when she raised $33.6 million in her winning battle against thenSen. Scott Brown.
Warren’s $14.1 million campaign balance is almost certainly far beyond what any of her GOP rivals have taken in. Republican candidates Beth Lindstrom, state Rep. Geoff Diehl and John Kingston declined to release their campaign numbers yesterday when contacted by the Herald.
All campaigns have until Jan. 31 to file their fourthquarter 2017 reports with the Federal Election Commission.
By comparison, former Sen. Scott Brown entered his re-election campaign in 2012 with $12.9 million on hand.
But Warren — whose national profile has only soared higher thanks to President Trump’s frequent attacks — may also be bracing for an onslaught of outside money in 2018 in an attempt to scuff up her image.
Last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue vowed his organization will “fight back against the extremes in both parties — the Steve Bannons and the Elizabeth Warrens of the world — who do not represent the best interests of this country.”
University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said groups like the Chamber may see 2018 as a head start to denying Warren a path to the White House.
“Business groups understand that it is at least possible Trump will be so unpopular in 2020 that the eventual Democratic nominee will be heavily favored,” Sabato told the Herald. “They’d like to influence the choice for the Democrats, and they want Warren to be the nominee least of all, except for (Vermont Sen. Bernie) Sanders.”
Warren’s campaign sent out a fundraising email last week amid the Donohue speech, telling her supporters, “the best way to stop the billionaires and outside groups is to show them that their dark money has no place in Massachusetts.”
Expectations for her GOP rivals are so low that anything short of a decisive victory for Warren in dark blue Massachusetts come November could hurt a potential presidential run.
“You can lose while winning if you emerge from a contest looking less formidable than when you entered,” said Sabato.
Warren’s campaign did not release the raw data it plans to file with the FEC later this month, only handing reporters the points it wanted to highlight.
Warren raised money from 9,199 donors from Massachusetts last quarter — an attempt to counter GOP rivals’ claims that she is more concerned about her national profile than her Bay State constituents. But the campaign wouldn’t say what percentage of her donors were from Massachusetts.
The campaign also touted grass-roots strength, claiming that 98 percent of fourthquarter donors contributed $100 or less. But the campaign declined to release a list of donors giving more than $100.