Parnell outraises Lamb for first time
Riding more than $620,000 in individual contributions, Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell outraised Rep. Conor Lamb in the second quarter of 2020 — marking the first time the incumbent Democratic congressman has fallen short of an opponent’s quarterly money totals in his electoral career.
Mr. Parnell, an Army veteran and author running for the 17th District seat, brought in
about $720,000 between April 1 and June 30 — $276,000 more than Mr. Lamb raised ($440,000.) Though Mr. Lamb had $466,000 more cash on hand entering July with a treasury totaling $1.33 million, Mr. Parnell grew his stash by about $549,000 — bolstered by a near-quadrupling of his own quarter-to-quarter fundraising.
Mr. Parnell’s campaign rubbed it in a bit this past week, calling Mr. Lamb’s fundraising hauls “pathetic for an incumbent trying to hold onto such an important district.”
“Sean Parnell has the right message for the right time in America, and we look forward to continuing the charge forward to defend freedom,” campaign manager Andrew Brey said in a statement, insisting that nearly 8,000 of their donations came from first-time donors.
Mr. Lamb’s campaign manager said the team knew it would be a “competitive, expensive race with a lot of outside money coming in to help President Trump’s candidate, just as it has in our past two elections.”
“We have more than $1.3 million and a huge, diverse, highly motivated coalition of local people ready to do the hard work on the ground to win this election in November,” campaign manager Abby Nassif Murphy said, noting it’s a battleground district in a battleground state. “We’ll take grassroots over big money any day.”
Neither of the candidates faced a contested primary on the June 2 ballot, but both have been preparing for a general election matchup that’s being watched all the way up to the White House — where Donald Trump has weighed in, endorsing Mr. Parnell.
The stakes of the race are underscored, too, by the political committees and individuals that have backed the candidates.
Several high-profile businesspeople show up on Mr. Parnell’s donor list, including Stanley Hubbard, the CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting in Minnesota who, according to the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal, has given more than $2 million to Republican campaigns and causes since 2016. He donated $5,400 to Mr. Parnell.
Mr. Parnell has raised more than $400,000 this cycle from donors on the GOP’s online fundraising aggregate, WinRed, which brought in more than $275 million for Republican candidates across the U.S. in the second quarter, Politico reported.
About $68,000 of Mr. Parnell’s recent haul came from party and political committees, including PACs.
This included $5,000 from the Supporting Electing American Leaders PAC, or SEAL PAC, which is headed by the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden and is designed to help elect conservative military veterans to Congress. The PAC — which lists Mr. Parnell as one of its 11 endorsed candidates for 2020 — says it’s spent more than $200,000 this cycle and wants to spend $1.5 million before November’s election.
The Citizens United Political Victory Fund, which had recently claimed “the road to remove [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] from power runs through” the 17th District, gave Mr. Parnell $5,000. The PAC, echoing one of Mr. Parnell’s main campaign pitches, wrote on Facebook this month that the “2020 Democratic platform will be the most un-American, socialist-inspired document to come out of a major party convention in American history.”
Several Republican members of Congress gave to Mr. Parnell this quarter, including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., whose campaign committee gave $4,000. Mr. Parnell also received money from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s PAC and a committee affiliated with former Rep. Keith Rothfus, the former 17th District representative who lost to Mr. Lamb in 2018.
Mr. Lamb’s haul from the Democratic version of WinRed — ActBlue — has been about $270,000 this cycle. From party and political committees this quarter, it was $59,000.
Giving $5,000 to Mr. Lamb was the House Majority PAC, the main committee trying to keep Democrats in the House majority.
Mr. Lamb got $2,500 from the Taking the Hill PAC, started by former Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy with the goal of supporting veterans and military family members for office. Mr. Lamb is one of eight congressional candidates the PAC supports.
The Democrat’s campaign also was boosted by several union PACs, including the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
Elsewhere in Western Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, raised about $338,000 in the second quarter — nearly 13 times as much as his Democratic opponent, Bill Marx, who raised $27,000. Mr. Reschenthaler entered July with more than 19 times as much cash on hand at $390,000.
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, DForest Hills, raised just over $121,000 — 16 times as much as his Republican opponent, Luke Negron, who tallied $8,000. Mr. Doyle has a quarter of a million dollars on hand; Mr. Negron has just under $6,000.