First finance reports for Congressional challengers start coming in

From the inbox:

Democratic candidate and nonprofit leader Alex Triantaphyllis announced he raised over $450,000 from more than 1,100 contributors since his entrance into the race for Texas’s 7th Congressional District. He will report over $400,000 cash on hand entering the third quarter of 2017. In just eight weeks of fundraising, Triantaphyllis nearly matched nine-term Congressman John Culberson’s best quarter across the incumbent’s 30-year career as a politician. The majority of contributions to Triantaphyllis’s campaign were $100 or less.

“We are thrilled by the outpouring of support for our campaign that we have seen from the start,” Triantaphyllis said. “In addition to the encouragement from community members, this strong, early financial support provides the foundation to build a grassroots campaign that connects with every voter in every neighborhood in Texas’s 7th Congressional District. The 7th district deserves a representative who will create jobs, make families safer and stronger, and engage with community members to address the goals and challenges that they identify.”

I’m expecting a few more press releases like that to come in. It’s a well known way to distinguish oneself in a large field of candidates like what we have in CD07. There are many angles one can take with these announcements – raw totals, cash on hand, number of contributors, average amount per contributor, percentage of contributions in the district or in the state, etc etc etc. If there’s something worth touting, it will be touted. If there isn’t, there probably won’t be a press release. Yes, I know, money isn’t everything – we have this same conversation every time there’s a finance report deadline worth mentioning – but not having it seldom helps.

Meanwhile, up in Dallas:

Democratic Party candidates for the 32nd Congressional District aren’t having any problems raising campaign cash.

Ed Meier, a former adviser to Hillary Clinton and the interim CEO of a Dallas nonprofit, raised a blistering $345,000 in just under two months. Meier’s campaign has $300,000 on hand, according to totals provided by his spokesman.

“I’m proud to start this campaign by building a broad base of support that we will continue to grow from now through election day,” Meier said in a statement. “From the conversations I’ve had with people across this community, one thing is clear: People want a leader who will stand up for Texas families and hold [Donald] Trump accountable, instead of one who enables Trump’s reckless agenda. That’s why they’re calling for a change and I’m glad to have their support.”

Meier got into the race in May. The second-quarter fundraising period was from April to June 30.

His opponent in the March Democratic Party primary, Dallas civil rights lawyer Colin Allred, raised $200,000 during the second-quarter fundraising period. His campaign aides say 71 percent of the money came from Texans.

The Democrats are vying for the chance to run against incumbent Republican Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

Despite the hefty fundraising totals, the Democrats aren’t yet approaching the amount of money Sessions has access to. His campaign manager said Thursday that the longtime congressman has more than $900,000 on hand. Sessions’ full campaign finance report was not immediately available. Campaign finance reports aren’t due until July 15.

Note that Rep. Sessions didn’t have a specific rebuttal at this time. He may still be totting up his numbers, or he may not have anything too noteworthy to report. We should have a clearer picture by this time next week.

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4 Responses to First finance reports for Congressional challengers start coming in

  1. So many harvard lawyers, so few ideas.

  2. Pingback: Finance reports still slowly coming in – Off the Kuff

  3. Lon Murray says:

    Meet him. He has ideas.

  4. Pingback: Coming home to run – Off the Kuff

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