Franken raises $2 million; rest of delegation’s fundraising comes in
WASHINGTON - DFL Sen. Al Franken's re-election campaign built on his large base of supporters to raise more than $2 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30 and now has nearly $3.9 million in the bank.
Franken's campaign manager, Matt Burgess, noted that Franken had more than 37,000 individual donors in the last quarter including nearly 21,000 new donors, 97 percent of whom gave less than $100. Of the four Republicans who have entered the race, only businessman Mike McFadden has announced his fundraising, drawing more than $700,000 in the last quarter with $1.2 million cash on hand.
Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, said that she raised $120,000 from roughly 650 donors in her first eight weeks of fundraising for her U.S. Senate campaign.
Despite the federal government shutdown (itself a useful source of fundraising pleas and political attacks for some members), other fundraising results have been showing up on the Federal Election Commission's website Tuesday ahead of a midnight deadline.
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1st Congressional District - Incumbent Democrat Tim Walz raised more than $176,000 and has $238,000 in the bank.
2nd Congressional District - Republican Rep. John Kline had another big fundraising quarter as Democrats make his seat one of their top targets in 2014. The chair of the Education and Workforce Committee raised $370,000 and has more than $1.3 million in his war chest.
Kline's DFL challenger, Mike Obermueller, has not yet released his fundraising totals.
UPDATE: Kline's DFL challenger, Mike Obermueller, raised $73,000 and had $119,000 in the bank.
3rd Congressional District - Three-term GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen raised $379,000 and has more than $1.5 million on hand, in line with past quarters as Democrats hunt for a challenger in this potential swing district.
4th Congressional District - Veteran DFL Rep. Betty McCollum raised $99,000 and has $89,000 in her campaign account. McCollum has easily won re-election in her St. Paul-based district in the past and currently has no Republican opponent.
5th Congressional District - Democratic incumbent Keith Ellison posted an increase in his fundraising, drawing more than $309,000 and holds $186,000 in the bank. Like McCollum, Ellison has never faced strong GOP opposition and currently has no opponent.
6th Congressional District - My colleague Mark Zdechlik has the latest on fundraising in the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann. Bachmann's congressional campaign transferred $40,000 to pay down debt from her unsuccessful presidential bid. That presidential campaign now has just $14,000 in debt left with $15,000 in cash and appears set to close in the coming months.
7th Congressional District - The dean of Minnesota's delegation, Democrat Collin Peterson, raised $82,000 and has $227,000 on hand. Republicans seized on that total to suggest Peterson might retire and open up his potentially GOP-friendly seat however the blog Smart Politics disputes that premise and argues Peterson's fundraising is in line with past quarters.
8th Congressional District - Again, Mark Zdechlik's got the goods here.