Second quarter fundraising: Winners and losers

Second quarter fundraising reports were due Sunday for (nearly) all House and Senate candidates.

As usual, The Fix is combing through the numbers.

Here’s our initial stab at our quarterly fundraising winners and losers. (Anything we missed? The comments section awaits.)

WINNERS

Supporters of Elizabeth Warren cheer after Warren won the delegate vote to become the Massachusetts Democratic Senate nominee in Springfield, Mass., last month. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Democratic Senate candidates: Democrats continue to outshine the GOP on the fundraising front, outraising Republicans in 13 of the 17 top races for which figures were available Monday morning. Much of this is because Democrats have more incumbents, but Democrats also raised more in open seat races in Arizona, Nebraska, Virginia and Wisconsin. In all, six Democrats raised at least $2 million – two of them raising $3 million (Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Virginia’s Tim Kaine) and another (Elizabeth Warren) pulling in $8.7 million.

Warren: She’s a mainstay on the winners list, and for good reason. Despite a controversy over her past claims to Native American heritage during the second quarter, she actually raised more than she ever had before. One caveat, though: Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) raised the most of any Republican -- $5 million. So neither side will be short of cash.

Bob Kerrey: The former senator doesn’t appear to have much of a chance of holding this ruby red state for Democrats, but it won’t be for lack of funds. He outraised state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) $2 million to $1.3 million, but he’s also spent heavily on ads and has only slightly more cash than Fischer, who just emerged from an expensive GOP primary.

Senate GOP women: Former congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and former Hawaii governor Linda Lingle (R) both outraised their Democratic opponents for the second straight quarter (and third-straight for Lingle), giving Republicans hope in a pair of second-tier targets. Wilson outraised Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) $1.6 million to $1.4 million, and Lingle outraised Rep. Mazie Hirono (D) $1.1 million to $941,000. Also, Fischer’s total wasn’t bad at all — especially for someone who didn’t even crack $250,000 during the primary season. The one exception: Former Missouri state treasurer Sarah Steelman, who had her best quarter yet but still raised just $240,000.

Kaine: For the fifth quarter in a row, the former Democratic National Committee chairman outraised former senator George Allen (R) by a significant margin. This time, it was $3 million to $2 million. Kaine has less cash on hand, but that’s because he’s already bought $3.5 million worth of ad time for the fall.
In this Aug. 26, 2008, file photo, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

Openly gay and lesbian candidates: Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Massachusetts GOP House candidate Richard Tisei were among the biggest fundraisers in their respective chambers, with Baldwin raising $2.2 million and Tisei pulling in $571,000 to Rep. John Tierney’s (D-Mass.) $423,000. Tisei also has more cash on hand than Tierney. A third candidate, former state legislator Kyrsten Sinema, raised the most for Arizona’s new 9th congressional district. Sinema, who would be Congress’s first openly bisexual member, raised $368,000.

Mia Love: Believe the hype. The rising-star Utah GOP congressional candidate raised $374,000 and narrowly outraised Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah).

Rep. Steve King: The Iowa Republican has a tough challenge in front of him with former state first lady Christie Vilsack (D) running, and she’s pulling in big money too. But King outraised her $848,000 (!) to $508,000 in the second quarter.

Rep. Kathy Hochul: The upstate New York Democratic congresswoman raised a sterling $517,000, while her opponent barely cracked five figures in her GOP-leaning district. That opponent, former Erie County Executive Chris Collins (R), has self-funded $250,000 so far and should self-fund more, but it’s generally good to show at least some fundraising proficiency, and he hasn’t done it. Oh, and Hochul self-funded $250,000

Local TV stations and campaign consultants: Economic slowdown? Not in politics. The multitude of Senate candidates raising $1 million, $2 million or more shows there is plenty of campaign cash out there, which means TV stations and consultants are going to get paid – a lot – this fall.

Sheldon Adelson: After spending more than $10 million funding ads that savaged Mitt Romney in the GOP primary, the former Newt Gingrich backer is atoning. He sent $10 million to a pro-Romney super PAC and another $5 million to the Young Guns Action Fund super PAC, which helps GOP House candidates. If Republicans have success this fall, Adelson will get lots of credit for making it happen.

LOSERS

Rep. Jeff Flake: The Arizona Republican congressman was supposed to be the favorite to succeed Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), but he’s being drowned on the ad front by self-funding businessman Wil Cardon in the primary and also got outraised $1.1 million to $941,000 by Democrat Richard Carmona in a potential general election matchup. Carmona has a killer bio (quite literally), but now he’s living up to the hype.

Tommy Thompson: The former four-term Wisconsin governor still hasn’t cracked $1 million in any quarter, and he raised $834,000 in the second quarter. Add on top of that the fact that Baldwin raised $2.2 million, Rep. Mark Neumann raised a respectable $733,000 (with which to bludgeon Thompson, no doubt) and businessman Eric Hovde is self-funding millions. Thompson’s grip on the GOP nomination is slipping, and he needs cash to fight back. He may be just fine if he makes it to the general election, but right now, that’s a big if.

Rep. Connie Mack (R): $840,000 raised is simply not a good number for a sitting member of Congress running for Senate in a state as big as Florida. He was outraised more than 2-to-1 by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) -- $1.8 million raised – and doesn’t appear to be taking advantage of a really solid pickup opportunity.

Cynthia Dill: Not only is the national Democratic Party basically ignoring its nominee in Maine; so are Democratic donors. Despite winning her primary during the second quarter, Dill pulled in just $66,000. That number makes former governor Angus King (I) smile.

Walter Dalton: The newly minted North Carolina Democratic nominee for governor was outraised more than two-to-one by former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R) — $2.2 million to $1 million — and thanks to a tough primary, he faces a $4.4 million-to-$714,000 deficit in cash on hand.

Alan Lowenthal: The California state senator is favored to hold the Democratic-leaning 47th district, but he raised just $133,000, while Republican Long Beach City Councilman Gary DeLong raised more than twice as much. Lowenthal has just more than $200,000 cash on hand, and that doesn’t go very far in the Los Angeles media market.

Rep. Charlie Bass: The New Hampshire Republican congressman keeps getting badly outraised by attorney Ann McLane Kuster (D). Kuster outdid him $484,000 to $261,000 in the second quarter and now has a nearly $400,000 cash advantage on an incumbent member of Congress. That’s not good.

Illinois Republicans: Land of Lincoln Republican Reps. Joe Walsh, Judy Biggert and Bobby Schilling were all outraised by Democratic challengers in the second quarter. And Democrat Tammy Duckworth outraised Walsh by more than half a million dollars ($890,000 to $318,000). That’s significant because this is the one state where Democrats really created opportunities for themselves in redistricting. Their fundraising assures they have a great shot at these three seats, along with Rep. Robert Dold’s (R-Ill.) Democratic-leaning seat.