The money battle in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District between Republican Rep. Chris Stewart and Democratic State Senator Luz Robles is heating up.
Both candidates posted surprisingly strong 4th quarter fundraising numbers in the latest FEC filings.
Stewart pulled in more than $115,000, which included $67,500 from political action committees. The campaign also tallied $47,000 from individual donors.
Stewart has more than $170,000 on hand heading into the first quarter of 2014.
Stewart’s campaign manager, Ryan McCoy said they’re pleased with those fundraising numbers. “Congressman Stewart had another solid quarter of fundraising, nearly double the previous quarter,” said McCoy. “We have the resources and the support we need to run a successful campaign.”
Democratic challenger Luz Robles followed up her surprising 3rd quarter fundraising with another solid effort. She totalled $56,142, with all of that coming from individual donors.
However, Robles has only $39,000 on hand after spending more than $60,000 in the last quarter. Campaign consultant German Trejo says most of that spending went to building their campaign infrastructure.
“In order to win this election, we have to have an aggressive grassroots campaign,” says Trejo. We are hitting streets much earlier than Rep. Stewart. Our operation has to have an aggressive field component.”
Robles’ fundraising will be hampered during the first quarter of 2014 as she’s prohibited from raising money while the Utah Legislature is in session.
