Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Reps. Lee, Horsford far ahead on fundraising
Democrats raise more across state
Southern Nevada’s congressional incumbents maintained huge fundraising advantages over their Republican challengers in the first half of 2020, while state Democrats held on to a six-figure cash advantage despite a large influx of national cash to the Nevada GOP, according to federal election documents.
3rd District
Rep. Susie Lee raised about $700,000 in the second quarter of 2020, bringing her total fundraising for the cycle to more than $3.2 million as of June 30.
Most of her fundraising in the quarter and for the cycle came from individual donations, $423,000 and about $1.9 million, respectively, with much of the remainder coming from business and Democratically aligned PACs.
Republican challenger Dan Rodimer, a small-businessman and former professional wrestler, pulled in about $200,000 for the quarter. He has raised about $866,000 for the cycle.
Nearly all of Rodimer’s total fundraising has come from individual donations and a $165,000 personal loan he used to push through a contested primary.
Lee holds an enormous cash advantage heading into the latter part of the election year. She had a full year’s head start as an incumbent, did not have to spend much during the primaries and outraised the Republican field in 2020.
Rodimer has about $253,000 on hand, but his campaign still owes more than $183,000 in debts. Lee has no debt and a staggering $2.4 million on hand.
However, the race between Lee and Rodimer — seen as possibly one of the most competitive in the West — is likely to draw millions in outside spending that may or may not be on the books.
Both parties have booked millions in future advertisements for the Las Vegas market, and so-called dark money nonprofits have already spent well into the six figures targeting each candidate.
4th District
Nevada’s 4th District is also seen as a possibly competitive race, but Rep. Steven Horsford has far outraised Republican former Assemblyman Jim Marchant as of June 30.
Horsford raised about $540,000 in the second quarter of 2020, bringing his cycle total to nearly $2.4 million. He has about $1.57 million left on hand with about $18,000 in outstanding debts.
Marchant, who, like Rodimer, had to fend off a competitive Republican primary field, raised about $188,000 for the quarter. He has pulled in about $624,000 this cycle, including a personal loan of about $110,000.
Marchant has about $142,000 left on hand, but his campaign owes $80,000 in debt.
1st District
Rep. Dina Titus has raised about $491,000 this election cycle, and her Republican opponent, Joyce Bentley, has not yet filed any contribution reports with federal election authorities.
State parties
The Nevada State Democratic Party has raised nearly $3 million as of May 31 from a variety of sources since the beginning of 2019. Some $586,000 of this has come from individual donations, with about $127,000 coming from the national party. About $827,000 came from Democratic candidates, including large 2019 payments from several candidates who vied for the presidential nomination.
Democrats have about $734,000 on hand heading into the second half of the election year.
The Nevada Republican Party has pulled in about $1.8 million in the past 18 months. About $480,000 came from individual donations. The party has received about $1.3 million from national affiliated committees, including some $733,000 from the Republican National Committee, which has all but taken over state GOP operations for the election cycle.
Republicans ended the first half of 2020 with about $472,000 on hand.
The GOP’s state fund is essentially dormant, according to paperwork filed Wednesday. It raised about $5,100 in the second quarter and has spent less than $3,000 in 2020.
The Democrats’ state fund pulled in about $191,000 and has spent more than $1.35 million, most of which went to its federal fund to pay for staff salaries, consultants and office fees.