Democrat Ben McAdams’ fundraising is vastly outclassing all of his potential Republican opponents ahead of the November election. In the most recent fundraising quarter, McAdams raised more than double what the Republicans in the race pulled in combined.
McAdams reported raising $895,976 in the fourth quarter of 2019. The six Republicans in the race pulled in just $346,979 in the same time period, which is just over a third of McAdams’ total.
McAdams also has nearly $1.8 million in his campaign account, which is more than double what the Republicans vying to take him on have available. That includes $377,539 from Dan Hemmert who withdrew from the race in December. Take him out of the equation, and McAdams’ campaign cash lead over the rest of the Republican field balloons to nearly four times as much.
That disparity could be a problem for the Republicans competing for the GOP nomination to take on McAdams. Burgess Owens, Kathleen Anderson and Jay McFarland have all filed their intent to gather signatures to get on the primary ballot. Kim Coleman and Chris Biesinger are seeking to advance to the primary through the GOP convention. A costly June primary election could drain already scarce campaign resources and force the eventual nominee to play catchup with McAdams once the nomination is decided in June.
Not all campaign accounts are created equal. For instance, Kathleen Anderson has $186,434 cash available, but she has donated more than $220,000 to her own campaign. Outside of the $92,000 she gave to her campaign during the latest quarter, Anderson only received $7,256 in donations.
Former NFL player Burgess Owens raised the most money among Republicans during the October-December reporting period, pulling in $129,969.
State Rep. Kim Coleman reported $109,774 in donations, leaving her nearly $150,000 in cash on hand.
Former radio host Jay McFarland tallied $23,524 in contributions, leaving him $15,006 in his campaign account. However, McFarland’s total is a bit misleading as his campaign reports an additional $58,456 in debts owed by his campaign.
Chris Biesenger reported $7,500 in donations, leaving him nearly $6,500 in his account.
Prior to his withdrawal from the race, Dan Hemmert pulled in $68,950 in donations with $377,539.05 on hand. That number was bolstered by $175,000 Hemmert donated to his own organization.
There are two Democrats in the race against McAdams. Daniel Beckstrand only reported $280 in donations for the quarter and $4,656 in his account. Jonathan Lopez did not report any campaign contributions for the quarter.
Independent candidate Jonia Broderick reported $19,681 in donations, but she only has $450 left in her campaign account.
McAdams total includes just over $270,000 in donations from various political action committees.
