From the inbox:
Lizzie Fletcher
Lizzie Pannill Fletcher announced today that she raised more than $365,000 in her first seven weeks of the campaign as a Democratic candidate for Texas’ Seventh Congressional District, a seat currently held by Representative John Culberson.
Fletcher’s report for the 2017 second financial quarter will show strong local support; nearly 90% of contributions came from within Texas and almost 80% of contributions from within the city of Houston.
“I am humbled and proud that so many Houstonians I have known and worked with for many years have supported this campaign in these first few weeks. And I am equally proud that many people I have met on the campaign trial have enthusiastically endorsed its message and supported me,” Fletcher said. “Houston is ready for a change in representation, and this is just the beginning.”
Campaign Treasurer Gordon Center noted, “As a first-time candidate, Lizzie is quickly building up a strong war chest in order to communicate her message effectively to voters in the 7th Congressional District. Lizzie has been an advocate for Houston and Houstonians for years, so it is no surprise that these substantial campaign contributions have come from right here in her hometown.”
I’m not going to report these one by one, but right now the Congressional candidates are the most prevalent, and since the FEC reports likely won’t be available till the end of the month, this is what I’ve got. Fletcher joins Alex Triantaphyllis and the two main contenders in CD32 in posting a strong first number. Also reporting a good first number is Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke:
Our grassroots campaign raised $2.1 million in the second quarter!
➡ $0 from PACs
➡ 46,574 individual donations
➡ 81% of money raised was from Texas
➡ Average contribution was $44
For a bit of perspective, that’s about half the total Rick Noriega raised for his entire 2008 Senate campaign. As the Trib notes, it’s also more than some incumbent Democratic Senators who are up for election in 2018 did in Q2. In other words, not too shabby. It’s still going to take a lot more than that to be able to effectively communicate with voters across the state – remember, most people as of today have never heard of Beto O’Rourke, and it’s kind of hard to persuade someone to vote for you if they have no idea who you are – but this is an excellent start.
There are a lot more candidates out there, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how everyone else does. I plan to review all of the reports, for Houston, HISD, HCC, Harris County, and the state as they come in next week. I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about once we have all the data.