Joe Crowley
Which congressional candidates have raised the most campaign cash?
Raising the most money doesn’t guarantee an election victory – but it helps.
William Alatriste/For the New York City Council
Raising the most money doesn’t guarantee an election victory – but it helps.
With the primaries a week away, congressional candidates have filed their second quarter fundraising reports. These Federal Election Commission filings, which contain contributions from April 1 to June 6, illuminate which candidates are stocked up for primary day. Here are the top five fundraisers among incumbents and challengers this quarter.
Incumbents
Total receipts – $578,388.11
Cash on hand – $1,061,026.65
Crowley hasn’t taken his progressive challenger sitting down, raising significant amounts of money in anticipation of the primary. His opponent, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has drawn widespread support from the online left and tripled her fundraising since the previous FEC filing.
Total receipts – $504,599.11
Cash on hand – $512,063.08
Engel has approximately doubled his fundraising this quarter, overtaking his opponent’s efforts from last quarter. Jonathan Lewis, the millionaire vying for his seat in the primary, almost made it to the top five challengers list, with $230,798 in total receipts.
Total receipts – $392,830.01
Cash on hand – $536,890.87
Donovan has steeled himself against his aggressive primary opponent, former Rep. Michael Grimm, who had a 10-point lead over Donovan in a recent poll. Even if debates between the two may not have much of an impact on the election, perhaps Donovan’s substantial fundraising will.
Total receipts – $338,592.16
Cash on hand – $1,091,382.61
Faso just barely outraised his Democratic opponents this quarter in an increasingly tight race for the freshman representative’s seat. He faces seven possible Democratic contenders, two of whom – Antonio Delgado and Patrick Ryan – also have substantial war chests.
Total receipts – $307,482.42
Cash on hand – $1,546,035.78
Zeldin has maintained his strong fundraising into the second quarter, despite facing no notable Republican primary challenger. However, he faces a slew of possible Democrats in the general election, including Perry Gershon, the top Democratic fundraiser.
Challengers
Total receipts – $699,708.22
Cash on hand – $450,161.28
Gershon has raised an impressive amount of money running for Lee Zeldin’s seat, but not without a significant cost. His debts are currently $900,000, which may be the price of competing against four other candidates for the Democratic nomination.
Total receipts – $377,551.26
Cash on hand – $1,078,087.52
While Rep. Dan Donovan has geared up his fundraising in anticipation of a serious challenge from former Rep. Michael Grimm, Rose has been preparing his own well-funded campaign for the general election. In fact, Rose raised nearly as much as Donovan this quarter and has twice the amount of cash on hand.
Total receipts – $340,855.92
Cash on hand – $1,184,520.06
Assemblyman Brindisi outraised Rep. Claudia Tenney once again this quarter, proving himself to be a viable Democratic contender for her seat.
Total receipts – $338,126.95
Cash on hand – $758,800.11
Delgado has again raised the most money among his six primary opponents running for Rep. John Faso’s seat. But he is closely followed by …
Total receipts – $296,468.72
Cash on hand – $468,901.94
Ryan raised about $42,000 less than Delgado, leaving two well-funded Democratic challengers for the 19th Congressional District. And three other Democrats running in the primary aren’t looking too bad either – Gareth Rhodes, Brian Flynn and Dave Clegg each raised more than $100,000 this quarter.
NEXT STORY: State Legislature targets revenge porn, passes other uncontroversial bills