Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich raised $813,000 in the third quarter, which runs from July 1 to Sept. 30, according to a filing shared by his campaign staff. He has $2.4 million cash on hand. All told, Begich has raised $4.8 million this election cycle.
Begich does not have a Democratic challenger in the primary, so the real heat in the race belongs to the three Republicans who have so far filed to run against him: Joe Miller, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, and Dan Sullivan. Miller did not respond to a request to share his file. Sullivan wasn’t running this past quarter and didn’t have to report.
Treadwell raised less than $200,000. He has about $155,000 on hand. In total, Treadwell, who announced his plans to run in June, has raised only $340,000.
His campaign called it “tremendous” but it has to be a disappointment. Candidates in other races who are challenging in what are considered vulnerable Democratic Senators have done much better.
In Arkansas for instance, Rep. Tom Cotton outraised Sen. Mark Pryor $1.07 million to Pryor’s $1.04 million.The Republican favorite in Louisiana, Rep. Bill Cassidy, raised. $700,000. In North Carolina, GOP favorite Thom Tillis raised $800,000.
As everyone knows, despite its geographic size, Alaska is a small state demographically, making fundraising more difficult. Also, there isn’t a contested Republican primary in these other states.
Even so, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee is watching closely, and it won’t throw the full weight of its support behind a candidate who can’t raise more than 25 percent of what his opponent raises.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
