Ariz. Democrats winning money game in US House, Senate races
Entering the final four months of the campaign, Arizona Democrats continued to grow their financial advantage over Republicans in the state’s Senate and key House races, newly filed reports show.
Despite another solid quarter of fundraising, Sen. Martha McSally, RAriz., fell farther behind Democrat Mark Kelly, who raised far more and whose campaign costs were smaller compared with the money coming in.
Kelly took in $12.8 million from all sources compared with McSally’s $9.3 million.
Through the end of June, Kelly had nearly $24 million in cash available compared with McSally’s $11 million.
Once again, Kelly also outraised McSally from Arizona donors, among those whose residency was publicly disclosed. He pulled in $1.7 million from 17,000 Arizona residents.
McSally took in $1.2 million from 11,000 such donors.
It continues a pattern that has held up since Kelly entered the race in early 2019.
So, too, is the financial story in Arizona’s most competitive House races.
In the Scottsdale-based 6th Congressional District race, Democrat Hiral Tipirneni once again set a pace no one else could match.
She raised $665,000 and finished with nearly $1.7 million in cash.
Five-term incumbent Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., raised $199,000 and finished with $237,000 in cash. That doesn’t include the $111,000 in debt his campaign is carrying as well. His campaign logged $99,000 in additional legal fees, likely connected to his ongoing case before the House Ethics Committee.
Other Democrats challenging Tipirneni struggled to raise money heading into early voting in the state’s Aug. 4 primary, records show.
Anita Malik, the 2018 Democratic nominee, raised $66,000, which was about what she had in cash entering July.
Karl Gentles raised about as much as Malik did for the quarter, but had only $17,000 left in cash.
Stephanie Rimmer had not filed by the deadline. She ended the March quarter with $49,000.
Fundraising in other House races
In the 1st Congressional District, which spans northeastern Arizona, two-term incumbent Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., expanded his cash advantage over his Democratic and Republican challengers.
O’Halleran raised $421,000 and finished with nearly $1.4 million in cash entering July.
Eva Putzova, who is challenging him for the Democratic nomination, raised $139,000 and finished with $106,000 heading into the primary.
On the Republican side, Tiffany Shedd raised $161,000 and had $247,000 in cash. Nolan Reidhead raised $31,000 and had less than $13,000 in cash available.
In the Tucson-based 2nd Congressional District, four-term incumbent Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., maintained her financial advantage over challengers from both parties.
Kirkpatrick raised $182,000 and had $753,000 in cash entering July.
Peter Quilter, her Democratic challenger, appeared to not file electronically by the Wednesday night deadline. By the end of March, he had $1,000 in cash.
Republican Brandon Martin raised $84,000 but had only $38,000 left in cash.
Noran Eric Ruden collected $41,000 and had $86,000 in cash, largely because of a $100,000 loan he made to his campaign earlier.
Joseph Morgan raised only $5,000 and had about half of it left in cash.
Arizona’s other six incumbents occupy districts viewed as unlikely to change, and their financial advantage over the competition reflects that.
Among that group, Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., has the most-flush challenger, Republican Nicholas Tutora. While Tutora had $36,000 in cash at the end of June, Stanton, a freshman, had $801,000.
Information for the Democrats running against Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., wasn’t available. Lesko, meanwhile, had $559,000 in cash.