Lake’s US Senate campaign raised $4.1M to start 2024

Kari Lake’s U.S. Senate campaign said Sunday it raised $4.1 million to start the year in a showing that again figures to leave her among the top Republican challengers nationally but well behind her Arizona Democratic rival Ruben Gallego.

In her second three-month quarter, the Republican front-runner finished with $2.5 million in cash, more than doubling her previous total. She again reported broad, small-dollar support that widely is viewed as a sign of future voter support when it comes from Arizonans.

Gallego, a five-term member of Congress, also reports substantial support from those giving less than $200 and has raised bigger overall sums that his campaign claims as a sign of his appeal to voters.

Gallego reported raising $7.5 million in the past quarter and put away $9.6 million in cash.

Both candidates are running for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is also seeking the Republican nomination.

None of the candidates have formally filed their quarterly reports that will include more information about who contributed to their campaigns and when.

For the moment, Lake’s campaign pointed to her fundraising as a sign of growing momentum.

“Kari Lake doubled her fundraising haul from last quarter,” the campaign said in a statement. “She is seeing strong (support) from grassroots donors and Arizona donors. Gallego is FarLeft, and out of step with Arizonans. Just like (former President Donald Trump), Kari is performing strong in Arizona and will win in November.”

The battle over money in Arizona figures to remain an area of intense interest.

Gallego, the only prominent Democrat running in the race, has already begun advertising on broadcast television and other screens across the state in a sign of confidence that he can sustain the high cost of advertising.

With Sinema’s retirement announcement last month, Gallego began consolidating key Democratic support, including from U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, DAriz.

In 2022, Kelly badly outraised Blake Masters, his Republican challenger, and Masters didn’t attract support from the allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Masters did receive help from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but wound up losing to Kelly by about 5 percentage points.

This time, Lake already has consolidated the formal support of Trump, about half the Republicans in the Senate and the NRSC.

There is still no indication of McConnell’s support, though it’s unclear how active his support network will be after he announced he will be stepping down from GOP leadership after the elections.

Both Lake and Gallego announced a significant fundraising uptick after Sinema’s March 5 announcement. A fundraiser in Washington, D.C., that included at least 19 Republican senators brought in $330,000 that day, Lake’s campaign has said.

Gallego’s campaign has claimed it raised $1 million in the first 24 hours after Sinema’s departure from the race.

Last week, Lake held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that her campaign claimed brought in $1 million. That won’t be reflected in the quarterly report that covers from January through March.

Lake’s campaign said she collected donations from all 50 states and smalldonor contributions averaged $23, a sum that leaves those supporters with plenty of room to contribute more to her if they want to do so.