Fundraising for Cotton at $1.5 million

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Little Rock, raised nearly $1.5 million during the second quarter of the year, his campaign announced Tuesday.

The state’s 43-year-old junior senator had his best fundraising quarter of the 2020 campaign cycle, according to his political director, Brian Colas.

He now has more than $6 million in cash on hand, “a record for an incumbent in Arkansas,” the campaign said.

Of the $1.47 million raised by Cotton, more than $1 million was given by “small-dollar donors with an average donation of $31,” the campaign said. “Senator Cotton added more than 16,000 new donors including supporters from all 75 of Arkansas’s counties.”

In November, he faces Ricky Dale Harrington, a Libertarian from Pine Bluff who called Cotton’s fundraising advantage unsurprising.

“I understand he’s the darling of the Republican Party and they’re trying to set him up for being [President Donald] Trump’s successor,” he said. “It seems like he’s on Fox News every week.”

Harrington said he believes he recently surpassed the $5,000 fundraising mark and will be filing a report with the Federal Election Commission.

The deadline for the second-quarter report is today.

“I’m just trying to get it out there, let people know that there is an option. Tom Cotton isn’t running unopposed,” he said.

Dan Whitfield, an independent from Bella Vista, also filed to run against Cotton, but he failed to qualify. He’s challenging the state’s ballot access laws in court, arguing government-promulgated covid-19 restrictions hindered his ability to collect signatures.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker last month ruled against Whitfield and another independent candidate. The case is being appealed.